{"id":4836,"date":"2026-03-12T03:16:32","date_gmt":"2026-03-12T03:16:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/conservative-politics.com\/index.php\/2026\/03\/12\/judicial-watch-sues-for-gain-of-function-records\/"},"modified":"2026-03-12T03:16:32","modified_gmt":"2026-03-12T03:16:32","slug":"judicial-watch-sues-for-gain-of-function-records","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/conservative-politics.com\/index.php\/2026\/03\/12\/judicial-watch-sues-for-gain-of-function-records\/","title":{"rendered":"Judicial Watch Sues for Gain-of-Function Records"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\t <\/p>\n

\tTom Fitton’s Judicial Watch Weekly Update<\/a>
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\n\t\tMarch 06, 2026<\/p>\n

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Hearing Set in Judicial Watch Lawsuit on NIH Royalty Payments<\/a>
Judicial Watch Sues Defense Department for Gain-of-Function Records<\/a>
Judicial Watch Sues Treasury on Covering Larry Summers\u2019 Portrait<\/a>
Public Schools Use Federal Violence Prevention Grants for Illegal Immigrants<\/a><\/p>\n

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Hearing Set in Judicial Watch Lawsuit on NIH Royalty Payments<\/strong><\/p>\n

We have sued the government to expose royalties paid to government scientists for their inventions.<\/p>\n

Now, a federal court has scheduled an evidentiary hearing<\/a> in our Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) lawsuit filed on behalf of Open The Books. The lawsuit seeks records of royalty payments made to scientists and employees at the National Institutes of Health (NIH).<\/p>\n

It specifically asks for records concerning former National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) Director Dr. Anthony Fauci, whose institute participated extensively in the NIH royalty program.<\/p>\n

The hearing will take place March 10, 2026, at 11:00 a.m. ET before U.S. District Court Judge Amit P. Mehta in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia in the case American Transparency (OpenTheBooks.com) v. U.S. Department of Health and Human Services<\/em><\/a> (No. 1:21-cv-02821).<\/p>\n

The hearing will address a key dispute over whether the NIH improperly withheld records showing how much individual government scientists received through royalty payments tied to taxpayer-funded inventions.<\/p>\n

Mehta ordered the hearing after finding a \u201cgenuine dispute of material fact\u201d regarding the NIH\u2019s claim that releasing the royalty payments made to individual employees would reveal confidential commercial information from third parties licensing government patents. The NIH argues that outsiders could allegedly \u201cback-calculate\u201d confidential royalty rates and payments made by licensees if the amounts paid to government inventors were disclosed.<\/p>\n

Judicial Watch and Open The Books dispute that claim and argue that disclosing the amounts<\/a> paid to government employees does not reveal confidential commercial information and is required under the Freedom of Information Act. We contend that the NIH\u2019s theory is speculative and improperly used to conceal how much taxpayer-funded government employees received in royalty income.<\/p>\n

In earlier rulings in the case, Mehta rejected the NIH\u2019s effort to broadly shield the royalty program using employee privacy claims, writing that \u201cfederal government employees have a limited privacy interest in information concerning their compensation.\u201d<\/p>\n

The court also emphasized the strong public interest in disclosure, noting that transparency regarding royalty payments could help the public assess whether inventors\u2019 financial interests in licensed technologies \u201ccould potentially bias the design, conduct, or reporting of clinical research.\u201d Mehta further concluded that the public interest in understanding these financial arrangements is significant, particularly where government scientists involved in taxpayer-funded biomedical research may receive payments tied to the commercialization of those technologies.<\/p>\n

The October 2021 lawsuit<\/a> was filed after the NIH failed to adequately respond to FOIA requests seeking records about royalty payments and financial arrangements involving NIH personnel.<\/p>\n

The FOIA requests sought records including:<\/p>\n