Access to the pages of paper records from federal courts is free, but access to the same pages online is expensive. Supreme Court Correspondent Adam Liptak of the New York Times explains the issues surrounding the costly access to online court documents and how some organizations are pushing back in the courtroom.

As always, the Federalist Society takes no position on particular legal or public policy issues; all expressions of opinion are those of the speaker.

Learn more about Adam Liptak:
https://www.nytimes.com/by/adam-liptak

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https://twitter.com/adamliptak

 

Differing views:

Attacking a Pay Wall That Hides Public Court Filings
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/02/04/us/politics/pacer-fees-lawsuit.html

The Courts Are Making a Killing on Public Records
https://newrepublic.com/article/153003/courts-making-killing-public-records-pacer-fees

The Federal Courts Are Running An Online Scam
https://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2019/03/20/pacer-court-records-225821

PACER: Electronic Public Access Fee Schedule
https://www.pacer.gov/documents/epa_feesched.pdf

Proposed legislation would eliminate PACER fees
http://www.abajournal.com/news/article/new_bill_wants_to_end_pacer_fees