Big If True courts coverage
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Federal court records should belong to all of us. Instead, they belong to whoever can afford to pay for them.
Decades ago, the Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts created PACER, short for Public Access to Court Electronic Records, which is an online database that attorneys, researchers and journalists use to look at those records.
This database is the subject of a class-action lawsuit alleging PACER’s fees are excessive and go over the cost of what it takes to run the program. As Deepak Gupta, a lead attorney in that case, told CBS News: "The PACER system used by the lower federal courts is hopelessly outdated and cumbersome. And, to add insult to injury, the PACER system charges people fees to access court records that should be made freely available."
PACER charges 10 cents per page, and even with a $3 cap per document, it adds up, especially considering how many records are filed in most court cases. Aside from that, PACER charges for searches and for viewing dockets, and both of those fees don’t have caps.
I’m planning to branch into criminal justice reporting at Big If True, and that means keeping up with federal courts. But I need a little help to make that happen. I’m asking for what amounts to just $25 a month to cover Big If True’s PACER expenses for 2018. If you give a little, it would help a lot.
Thank you for reading and for your support.
Decades ago, the Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts created PACER, short for Public Access to Court Electronic Records, which is an online database that attorneys, researchers and journalists use to look at those records.
This database is the subject of a class-action lawsuit alleging PACER’s fees are excessive and go over the cost of what it takes to run the program. As Deepak Gupta, a lead attorney in that case, told CBS News: "The PACER system used by the lower federal courts is hopelessly outdated and cumbersome. And, to add insult to injury, the PACER system charges people fees to access court records that should be made freely available."
PACER charges 10 cents per page, and even with a $3 cap per document, it adds up, especially considering how many records are filed in most court cases. Aside from that, PACER charges for searches and for viewing dockets, and both of those fees don’t have caps.
I’m planning to branch into criminal justice reporting at Big If True, and that means keeping up with federal courts. But I need a little help to make that happen. I’m asking for what amounts to just $25 a month to cover Big If True’s PACER expenses for 2018. If you give a little, it would help a lot.
Thank you for reading and for your support.
Organizer
Mollie Bryant
Organizer
Oklahoma City, OK
