Judicial Watch: Federal Court Sets Hearing in FOIA Lawsuit on FBI Targeting of Traditionalist Catholics

(Washington, DC) – Judicial Watch announced today that a federal court hearing will be held in Washington, DC, on Thursday, March 19, 2026, at 3:30 p.m. ET in a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) lawsuit against the U.S. Department of Justice and the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) over records about the Biden FBI’s targeting of “radical traditionalist” Catholics.

Judicial Watch, along with CatholicVote Civic Action, sued the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and the Justice Department in April 2023 for records containing key words and records about a FBI memo targeting Catholics (CatholicVote Civic Action and Judicial Watch, Inc. v. Federal Bureau of Investigations and Department of Justice (No. 1:23-cv-01166)).

In November 2023 Judicial Watch received 131 heavily redacted pages of records from the FBI showing top officials rushing to craft a public response to the leaked FBI intelligence memo that revealed its targeting of Catholics who adhere to traditional beliefs on church issues.

In December 2023 Judicial Watch received 98 pages of heavily redacted records from the FBI showing that the agency’s Office of General Counsel (its top legal team at headquarters) reviewed and was involved in handling the controversial internal memo from the FBI’s Richmond, VA, field office that targeted traditional Catholics.

In September 2025, the court ordered the production of a Vaughn index, which is a log describing responsive records withheld by the government and the legal reasons for the withholdings. Both agencies provided indexes, however, the index provided by the FBI was partially illegible and lacked detailed explanations. The FBI has declined to revise the index or provide a clearer version.

“Why won’t this DOJ and FBI reveal the full record on one of the most notorious abuses of power under Biden—the FBI’s targeting of Catholics for their Christian religious beliefs,” Judicial Watch President Tom Fitton said. “This concerns the First Amendment, and the Biden Justice Department’s flagrant abuse may be criminal.”

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