Judicial Watch

Judicial Watch is a legal foundation at 425 3rd Street SW in Washington, DC. Its IRS ruling date is August 1995 (EIN 52-1885088). For the 2023 tax year it reported total revenue of $104.3 million and total assets of$412.6 million.

Stated mission

Judicial Watch describes itself as “a conservative, non-partisan educational foundation, which promotes transparency, accountability and integrity in government, politics and the law,” and states that it fulfils that mission “through litigation, investigations, and public outreach.” Its motto is “Because no one is above the law.”

Method

The organization’s core method is the open-records lawsuit: it uses freedom-of-information laws “and other tools to investigate and uncover misconduct by government officials,” and litigation “to hold to account politicians and public officials who engage in corrupt activities.” Through its Open Records Project it also provides training and legal services to other conservatives on using FOIA and state open-records laws.

Relevance to digital political discourse

Judicial Watch publishes the documents it obtains directly, alongside press releases, a Corruption Chronicles blog, an Investigative Bulletin, podcasts, video, an SMS alert list, and an Election Integrity Map — a litigation organization that also operates as a publisher, releasing the records it obtains through its own channels.