Dear Ms. Luckstone:

This constitutes a request under the Freedom of Information Act regarding activity of the U.S. Marshals Service. It is being submitted on behalf of Fix the Court, a nonpartisan, nonprofit organization that advocates for greater openness and accountability in the federal judiciary.

This request seeks records maintained by the USMS related to the agency’s activities safeguarding federal judges and Supreme Court justices and is being submitted amid concern that these activities are being underfunded. I seek the following:

Personnel:
1. The number of deputy U.S. marshals (DUSMs) whom the U.S. Marshals Service hired in FY24, separated by the number of new hires who, at the time of hiring, were assigned to each of the following divisions:
A. Judicial Security Division
B. Office of Protective Intelligence
C. Protective details of Supreme Court justices

2. The number of DUSMs who left USMS in FY24 separated by the number assigned to each of the following divisions:
A. Judicial Security Division
B. Office of Protective Intelligence
C. Protective details of Supreme Court justices

3. The total number of full-time equivalent (FTE) DUSMs employed by the USMS each fiscal year from FY20 through FY24 separated by the following divisions:
A. Judicial Security Division
B. Office of Protective Intelligence

4. The number of overtime hours logged by DUSMs in FY24 separated by the following divisions:
A. Judicial Security Division
B. Office of Protective Intelligence
C. Protective details of Supreme Court justices

5. The number of Court Security Officers (CSOs) assigned to federal court facilities in each fiscal year from FY20 through FY24.

6. The number of court facilities at which CSOs were working in each fiscal year from FY20 through FY24.

Threats to judges and justices:
7. The number of threats to judges identified and recorded internally by USMS in each year from FY20 to FY24.

8. The number of threats to judges investigated by USMS in each year from FY20 to FY24.

9. The number of threats to judges identified by USMS in FY25 (Oct. 1, 2024, through Apr. 23, 2025).

10. The number of threats to judges investigated by USMS in FY25 (Oct. 1, 2024, through Apr. 23, 2025).

11. A detailed description of what constitutes a “threat” and what constitutes an “investigation” for the metrics described above.^[1]

12. The number of arrests made by USMS or other federal or state law enforcement agencies of individuals who threatened judges and a list of the federal district in which each arrestee was arraigned in each year from FY20 to FY24.

13. The number of arrests made by USMS or other law enforcement of individuals who threatened judges and a list of the federal district in which each arrestee was arraigned in each year in FY25 (Oct. 1, 2024, through Apr. 23, 2025).

Judicial security funding:
14. Any budget summaries showing actual expenditures of money appropriated to USMS for judicial security in FY20 through FY24, separated by the following divisions:
A. Judicial Security Division
B. Office of Protective Intelligence
C. Protective details of Supreme Court justices

15. The amount of the budgetary shortfall across the U.S. Marshals Service in FY24 separated by each USMS division.

Personally identifiable information:
16. The number of judges enrolled in the PII Reduction and Redaction Program at the end of FY24 (PII Program).

17. The number of judges eligible to enroll in the PII Program at the end of FY24.

18. The number of pieces of data the PII Program successfully had removed from the Internet in each fiscal year from FY20 to FY24, divided by category for each of the 10 categories described in Sect. 5933(2)(A) of Public Law 117-263.

19. The number of times in each fiscal year from FY20 to FY24 in which the USMS asked that a judge’s PII be removed, and the percentage of time in which, per PL 117-263, the PII was, in fact, removed within 72 hours.

20. For the instances in which the PII was not removed within 72 hours, the number of times that Sect. 5934(f) of PL 117-263 was activated — i.e., the number of times the Director of the Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts, their designee or a chief judge used information from USMS about PII removal noncompliance to “file an action seeking injunctive or declaratory relief in any court of competent jurisdiction.”

Security training:
Under  PL 117-263, “[a]mounts appropriated to the Federal judiciary for fiscal year 2022, and each fiscal year thereafter, may be used for biannual judicial security training for [judges…] and their immediate family members […].”

21. The number of security trainings for judges and the number of security trainings for judges’ family members that USMS personnel conducted in each fiscal year from FY22 to FY24.

22. The cost to the USMS for conducting each training described above and the number of DUSMs or FTEs who ran the training.

HIDS:
23. The total number of judges enrolled in the Home Intrusion Detection System program as of Apr. 23, 2025, and the total number of judges eligible for enrollment in the HIDS program as of Apr. 23, 2025.

24. The total cost (new alarm installations and maintenance of current alarms) to run the HIDS program annually for each fiscal year from FY20 to FY24.

25. Any materials produced by the USMS and sent to judges seeking to convince them to enroll in HIDS.

For the purposes of this request, “judge” includes any active or senior Article III judge or justice, any active or recalled magistrate judge and any active or recalled bankruptcy judge.

As Fix the Court is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization, and in light of the regular publication and dissemination activities in which it engages, I request that any fees that may be associated with this request be waived. This request is not for commercial purposes, and the release of the information requested is not in Fix the Court’s financial interest, given that its mission is to promote accountability from the federal judiciary.

Consistent with fee waiver regulations, 5 U.S.C. §552(a)(4)(A)(ii)(III) and 28 C.F.R. §16.10(b)(6), Fix the Court is primarily engaged in disseminating information to the public, and it seeks public records as part of its process to educate the American people about the federal judiciary. As a means of achieving that goal, Fix the Court shares information with news media and issues press releases, original reports and research.

If possible, I would prefer to receive this information electronically via e-mail at gabe@fixthecourt.com. If records must be sent by mail, please send them to Gabe Roth, Fix the Court, 348 4th Ave., #1007, Brooklyn, N.Y., 11215. If you have questions or need additional information from me, please feel free to call me at 202-780-4990. If my request is denied in whole or part, I ask that you justify all deletions by reference to specific exemptions of the act. Thank you for your assistance.

Sincerely,
Gabe Roth
Fix the Court

^[1] Cf., “In fiscal year 2024, the U.S. Marshals Service investigated 822 threats and potential threats to protected persons” (emphasis mine), https://www.usmarshals.gov/what-we-do/judicial-securit; last visited, Apr. 22, 2025.