While Congress made a bipartisan move to advance the Open Courts Act of 2021 (S. 2614) back in December, its only subsequent action was to place it on the Senate Legislative Calendar.
But is the Judiciary endorsing a “Free Pacer” of sorts?
In a recently released report, the U.S. Judiciary Committee endorsed making PACER searches free for any non-commercial users:
As a counterpoint, the courts contacted Congress in January with concerns regarding lost revenue and its unintended effect of restricting new technology. Perhaps this is why downloading fees are likely to remain for PACER users.
But with the courts taking notice, change to PACER could happen soon. Anyone interested in access to public documents should keep their eye on “Open Courts Act” and track it by clicking here.
& PACER isn’t the only one with court docs! We expanded our already extensive Records & Briefs collection last summer to include New York Court of Appeals Points & Cases going back to 1920, including a seven-volume handwritten Index (1926 page pictured above)
Records & Briefs, eBooks, print & expert research assistance… all @ NYLI ….
