Congress itself—including its committees and the individual offices of its representatives and senators—is not subject to FOIA requests, for example. Nor are the Supreme Court and the lower federal courts. The Smithsonian Institution is not considered to be an “agency” within FOIA’s terms. The Executive Office of the President and its components, which are usually just referred to as “the White House,” are also exempt.

Among those government bodies that are traditionally not subject to FOIA are the two at question here. The Judicial Conference is the chief policymaking body for the federal courts, headed by the chief justice of the United States and various other federal judges from around the country. It periodically revises the various federal rules of court procedure, supervises the courts’ electronic docket systems, and investigates federal judges for wrongdoing and potential impeachment.

The Administrative Office is the federal judiciary’s administrative arm. In addition to providing support staff for the Judicial Conference itself, it provides a “broad range of legislative, legal, financial, technology, management, administrative, and program support services” to the federal courts as a whole, according to its own website. In essence, the Administrative Office does everything for the courts but decide cases and write rulings. Its director is appointed by the chief justice, and its work is overseen by the Judicial Conference as a whole.