Free PACER

Today, the U.S. Courts announced free public access to federal court records (via PACER). I headed straight to the press release to soak in all the details as I imagined accessing all the wonderful legal briefs hidden behind PACER’s pay wall.

However, before you head to the PACER website, you should know that free access is only available in 14 states. No problem, right? No. Within these 14 states, you only have free access if you visit one of the 16 libraries participating in this project. Gulp. Free is looking a lot less free by the second. Damn. Only the feds could craft such a devilish plan to offer free access to an internet resource from designated bricks-and-mortar locations.

This is where living in California, the most populous state in the nation pays dividends, or so I thought. I quickly saw that two of the libraries were located in California: the San Bernardino County Law Library and Sacramento County Public Law Library.

Not Los Angeles. Not San Diego. Not San Jose. Not San Francisco. Not Long Beach. Not even Fresno! Who made this decision? Was it out of spite? They picked two locations in the Great State of California where people do NOT live.

In New York, free PACER is only available at one location: Fordham Law School. But, It’s in New York City. I guess Cheektowaga and White Plains didn’t want to participate. 🙄