PACER (law)
Encyclopedia
PACER is an electronic public access service of United States federal court documents. The system is managed by the Administrative Office of the United States Courts
. It allows users to obtain case and docket information from the United States district court
s, United States courts of appeals
, and United States bankruptcy court
s.
Each court maintains its own system, with a small subset of information from each case is transferred to the U.S. Party/Case Index, located in San Antonio, Texas
at the PACER Service Center, server each night. Records are submitted to the individual courts using the Federal Judiciary's Case Management/Electronic Case Files
(CM/ECF) system, and usually accepts the filing of documents in the Portable Document Format
(PDF) through the courts' electronic filing system. Each court maintains its own databases with case information. Because PACER database systems are maintained within each court, each jurisdiction
will have a different URL.
PACER has been criticized for being technically out of date and hard to use, and for demanding fees for records which are in the public domain
. In reaction, non-profit projects have begun to make such documents available online for free.
has given the Judicial Conference of the United States
authority to impose user fees for electronic access to case information. All registered agencies or individuals are charged a user fee.
The fee, as of 2006, to access the web-based PACER systems is $
0.08 per page. Prior to January 1, 2005, the fee was $0.07 per page. The per page charge applies to the number of pages that results from any search, including a search that yields no matches with a one page charge for no matches. The charge applies whether or not pages are printed, viewed, or downloaded. There is a maximum charge of $2.40 for electronic access to any single document.
In March 2001, the Judicial Conference of the United States
decided that no fee would be owed until a user accrued more than $10 worth of charges in a calendar year. If an account does not accrue $10 worth of usage between January 1 and December 31 of a year, the amount owed would be zeroed. In March 2010, that limit was effectively quadrupled, with users not billed unless their charges exceed $10 in a quarterly billing period.
In compliance with the E-Government Act of 2002
, written opinions that "set forth a reasoned explanation for a court's decision" are free of charge.
Fee revenues get plowed back to the courts to finance technology. The New York Times reported PACER revenues exceeded costs by about $150 million, as of 2008 according to court reports. In 2009, the Los Angeles Times
gave the yearly revenue as $10 million.
In 2008, an effort led by Carl Malamud
(who asserted that the PACER is "15 to 20 years out of date" and that it should not demand fees for documents which are in the public domain
) spent $600,000 in contributions to put a 50 years archive of records from the federal courts of appeals
online for free.
Also in 2008, district courts, with the help of the Government Printing Office (GPO), opened a free trial of Pacer at 17 libraries around the country. After activist Aaron Swartz
, following an appeal by Malamud, downloaded about 20% of the entire database using a library computer, to make them freely available to the public on public.resource.org
, the experiment was ended in late September 2008, with a notice from the GPO that the pilot program was suspended, “pending an evaluation.” In October, a GPO representative said that "the security of the Pacer service was compromised". A FOIA
request revealed later that the FBI had opened a full investigation against Swartz, which was dropped in April.
In 2009, a team from Princeton University
and Harvard University's Berkman Center created a software called "RECAP" which allows users to automatically search for free copies during a PACER search, and to help building up a free alternative database at the Internet Archive
. It is a Firefox extension which for each PACER document first checks if has already been uploaded by another user to the Internet Archive; if no free version exists and the user purchases the document from PACER, it will automatically upload a copy to the Internet Archive.
Other alternative sites republishing PACER documents include justia.com, the proprietary LexisNexis
, which makes a copy of the whole database available, and Google Scholar
.
Administrative Office of the United States Courts
The Administrative Office of the United States Courts is the administrative agency of the United States federal court system. It was established in 1939.The AO is the central support entity for the federal judicial branch...
. It allows users to obtain case and docket information from the United States district court
United States district court
The United States district courts are the general trial courts of the United States federal court system. Both civil and criminal cases are filed in the district court, which is a court of law, equity, and admiralty. There is a United States bankruptcy court associated with each United States...
s, United States courts of appeals
United States court of appeals
The United States courts of appeals are the intermediate appellate courts of the United States federal court system...
, and United States bankruptcy court
United States bankruptcy court
United States bankruptcy courts are courts created under Article I of the United States Constitution. They function as units of the district courts and have subject-matter jurisdiction over bankruptcy cases. The federal district courts have original and exclusive jurisdiction over all cases arising...
s.
Each court maintains its own system, with a small subset of information from each case is transferred to the U.S. Party/Case Index, located in San Antonio, Texas
San Antonio, Texas
San Antonio is the seventh-largest city in the United States of America and the second-largest city within the state of Texas, with a population of 1.33 million. Located in the American Southwest and the south–central part of Texas, the city serves as the seat of Bexar County. In 2011,...
at the PACER Service Center, server each night. Records are submitted to the individual courts using the Federal Judiciary's Case Management/Electronic Case Files
CM/ECF
CM/ECF is the case management and electronic case files system for most of the United States Federal Courts...
(CM/ECF) system, and usually accepts the filing of documents in the Portable Document Format
Portable Document Format
Portable Document Format is an open standard for document exchange. This file format, created by Adobe Systems in 1993, is used for representing documents in a manner independent of application software, hardware, and operating systems....
(PDF) through the courts' electronic filing system. Each court maintains its own databases with case information. Because PACER database systems are maintained within each court, each jurisdiction
Jurisdiction
Jurisdiction is the practical authority granted to a formally constituted legal body or to a political leader to deal with and make pronouncements on legal matters and, by implication, to administer justice within a defined area of responsibility...
will have a different URL.
PACER has been criticized for being technically out of date and hard to use, and for demanding fees for records which are in the public domain
Public domain
Works are in the public domain if the intellectual property rights have expired, if the intellectual property rights are forfeited, or if they are not covered by intellectual property rights at all...
. In reaction, non-profit projects have begun to make such documents available online for free.
Available information
The PACER System offers electronic access to case dockets to retrieve information such as:- A listing of all parties and participants including judges, attorneys, and trustees
- A compilation of case related information such as cause of action, case number, nature of suit, and dollar demand
- A chronology of dates of case events entered in the case record
- A claims registry
- A listing of new cases each day
- Appellate court opinions
- Judgments or case status
- Types of documents filed for certain cases
- Many courts offer imaged copies of documents
History
PACER started in 1988 as a system accessible only by terminals in libraries and office buildings. Starting in 2001, PACER was being made available over the Web.Costs, revenues and free alternatives
The United States CongressUnited States Congress
The United States Congress is the bicameral legislature of the federal government of the United States, consisting of the Senate and the House of Representatives. The Congress meets in the United States Capitol in Washington, D.C....
has given the Judicial Conference of the United States
Judicial Conference of the United States
The Judicial Conference of the United States, formerly known as Conference of Senior Circuit Judges, was created by the United States Congress in 1922 with the principal objective of framing policy guidelines for administration of judicial courts in the United States...
authority to impose user fees for electronic access to case information. All registered agencies or individuals are charged a user fee.
The fee, as of 2006, to access the web-based PACER systems is $
United States dollar
The United States dollar , also referred to as the American dollar, is the official currency of the United States of America. It is divided into 100 smaller units called cents or pennies....
0.08 per page. Prior to January 1, 2005, the fee was $0.07 per page. The per page charge applies to the number of pages that results from any search, including a search that yields no matches with a one page charge for no matches. The charge applies whether or not pages are printed, viewed, or downloaded. There is a maximum charge of $2.40 for electronic access to any single document.
In March 2001, the Judicial Conference of the United States
Judicial Conference of the United States
The Judicial Conference of the United States, formerly known as Conference of Senior Circuit Judges, was created by the United States Congress in 1922 with the principal objective of framing policy guidelines for administration of judicial courts in the United States...
decided that no fee would be owed until a user accrued more than $10 worth of charges in a calendar year. If an account does not accrue $10 worth of usage between January 1 and December 31 of a year, the amount owed would be zeroed. In March 2010, that limit was effectively quadrupled, with users not billed unless their charges exceed $10 in a quarterly billing period.
In compliance with the E-Government Act of 2002
E-Government Act of 2002
The E-Government Act of 2002 , is a United States statute enacted on December 17, 2002, with an effective date for most provisions of April 17, 2003...
, written opinions that "set forth a reasoned explanation for a court's decision" are free of charge.
Fee revenues get plowed back to the courts to finance technology. The New York Times reported PACER revenues exceeded costs by about $150 million, as of 2008 according to court reports. In 2009, the Los Angeles Times
Los Angeles Times
The Los Angeles Times is a daily newspaper published in Los Angeles, California, since 1881. It was the second-largest metropolitan newspaper in circulation in the United States in 2008 and the fourth most widely distributed newspaper in the country....
gave the yearly revenue as $10 million.
Reception
The New York Times has criticized PACER as "cumbersome, arcane and not free".In 2008, an effort led by Carl Malamud
Carl Malamud
Carl Malamud is a technologist, author, and public domain advocate, currently known for his foundation public.resource.org. He was the founder of the Internet Multicasting Service. During his time with this group, he was responsible for creating the first Internet radio station, for putting the...
(who asserted that the PACER is "15 to 20 years out of date" and that it should not demand fees for documents which are in the public domain
Public domain
Works are in the public domain if the intellectual property rights have expired, if the intellectual property rights are forfeited, or if they are not covered by intellectual property rights at all...
) spent $600,000 in contributions to put a 50 years archive of records from the federal courts of appeals
United States courts of appeals
The United States courts of appeals are the intermediate appellate courts of the United States federal court system...
online for free.
Also in 2008, district courts, with the help of the Government Printing Office (GPO), opened a free trial of Pacer at 17 libraries around the country. After activist Aaron Swartz
Aaron Swartz
Aaron Swartz is an American programmer, writer, political organizer and Internet activist. He is best known in programming circles for co-authoring the RSS 1.0 specification...
, following an appeal by Malamud, downloaded about 20% of the entire database using a library computer, to make them freely available to the public on public.resource.org
Public.Resource.Org
Public.Resource.Org is a 501 non-profit corporation dedicated to publishing and sharing public domain materials in the United States. It was founded by Carl Malamud and is based out of Sebastopol, California. Their motto is “Making Government Information More Accessible”...
, the experiment was ended in late September 2008, with a notice from the GPO that the pilot program was suspended, “pending an evaluation.” In October, a GPO representative said that "the security of the Pacer service was compromised". A FOIA
Freedom of Information Act (United States)
The Freedom of Information Act is a federal freedom of information law that allows for the full or partial disclosure of previously unreleased information and documents controlled by the United States government. The Act defines agency records subject to disclosure, outlines mandatory disclosure...
request revealed later that the FBI had opened a full investigation against Swartz, which was dropped in April.
In 2009, a team from Princeton University
Princeton University
Princeton University is a private research university located in Princeton, New Jersey, United States. The school is one of the eight universities of the Ivy League, and is one of the nine Colonial Colleges founded before the American Revolution....
and Harvard University's Berkman Center created a software called "RECAP" which allows users to automatically search for free copies during a PACER search, and to help building up a free alternative database at the Internet Archive
Internet Archive
The Internet Archive is a non-profit digital library with the stated mission of "universal access to all knowledge". It offers permanent storage and access to collections of digitized materials, including websites, music, moving images, and nearly 3 million public domain books. The Internet Archive...
. It is a Firefox extension which for each PACER document first checks if has already been uploaded by another user to the Internet Archive; if no free version exists and the user purchases the document from PACER, it will automatically upload a copy to the Internet Archive.
Other alternative sites republishing PACER documents include justia.com, the proprietary LexisNexis
LexisNexis
LexisNexis Group is a company providing computer-assisted legal research services. In 2006 it had the world's largest electronic database for legal and public-records related information...
, which makes a copy of the whole database available, and Google Scholar
Google Scholar
Google Scholar is a freely accessible web search engine that indexes the full text of scholarly literature across an array of publishing formats and disciplines. Released in beta in November 2004, the Google Scholar index includes most peer-reviewed online journals of Europe and America's largest...
.