{"id":178232,"date":"2019-02-01T19:51:00","date_gmt":"2019-02-02T00:51:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.panix.com\/~msaroff\/40years\/2019\/02\/01\/f-me-i-agree-with-joe-fing-liebarman\/"},"modified":"2019-02-01T19:51:00","modified_gmt":"2019-02-02T00:51:00","slug":"f-me-i-agree-with-joe-fing-liebarman","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.panix.com\/~msaroff\/40years\/2019\/02\/01\/f-me-i-agree-with-joe-fing-liebarman\/","title":{"rendered":"F%$# Me. I Agree with Joe F%$#ing Liebarman"},"content":{"rendered":"
He is leading the charge to lower the excessive fees charged by the federal courts to access their documents<\/a>:<\/div>\n

For most of the nation\u2019s history, the most common way to read court filings was to travel to the courthouse itself, pull up a desk in the clerk\u2019s office, and leaf through them by hand. This was hardly a convenient system, especially if you lived in a far-flung rural area or lacked the resources to travel to a nearby courthouse for the task. But it was still an impressive one. Public access was a core principle of the American federal judiciary, which absorbed both the Founders\u2019 disdain for secretive British courts and their belief in the democratic virtue of open legal proceedings.<\/p>\n

Then came the Public Access to Court Electronic Records system in the 1990s. In theory, the federal courts\u2019 electronic docket system\u2014known universally as PACER<\/a>\u2014allows anyone with an internet connection to call up the motions, briefs, orders, and appendices for virtually any federal court case. The interface has not evolved with the times. In an age of sleek, minimalist web design, PACER is a clunky and nonintuitive portal into the courts\u2019 inner workings. What\u2019s more, it\u2019s overcharging its users.<\/p>\n

Now a medley of legal advocacy groups, media outlets, and former politicians and judges are asking the Federal Circuit Court of Appeals to rein in excessive PACER fees. Some of the organizations argue that the current payment structure violates federal e-government laws that prohibit unnecessary fees. Others see the fees as a threat to judicial transparency and openness. What\u2019s ultimately at stake is the ability for Americans\u2014including journalists and defendants\u2014to fully participate in the nation\u2019s legal system.<\/p>\n

Three legal nonprofit groups\u2014the National Veterans Legal Services Program, the National Consumer Law Center, and Alliance for Justice\u2014filed a class action lawsuit against the federal government in 2016 to challenge PACER\u2019s fee structure. They argued that by charging more than the marginal costs to keep the system functional, the judiciary had run afoul of a federal law dedicating PACER\u2019s fees solely to that purpose. \u201cInstead of complying with the law, the [federal judiciary] has used excess PACER fees to cover the costs of unrelated projects\u2014ranging from audio systems to flat screens for jurors\u2014at the expense of public access,\u201d they told the district court in 2016.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnyone who wants to be able to access the documents that are essential to understanding the way our court system works has to pay these fees,\u201d Brianne Gorod, the chief counsel at the Constitutional Accountability Center, told me. The organization filed a friend-of-the-court brief on behalf of former Senator Joe Lieberman<\/span><\/b>, the 2002 law\u2019s original sponsor. \u201cWhat that means is that one\u2019s ability to access these documents\u2014to read the briefs that the courts use when making decisions, to understand why courts are doing what they do\u2014is going to turn on one\u2019s financial situation.\u201d <\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

F%$# me.<\/p>\n

I am on the same side as Joe Lieberman.<\/p>\n

I feel so dirty.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

He is leading the charge to lower the excessive fees charged by the federal courts to access their documents: For most of the nation\u2019s history, the most common way to read court filings was to travel to the courthouse itself, pull up a desk in the clerk\u2019s office, and leaf through them by hand. This …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[407,526,449,480],"class_list":["post-178232","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","tag-justice","tag-law-enforcement-misconduct","tag-legislation","tag-taxes"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.panix.com\/~msaroff\/40years\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/178232"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.panix.com\/~msaroff\/40years\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.panix.com\/~msaroff\/40years\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.panix.com\/~msaroff\/40years\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.panix.com\/~msaroff\/40years\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=178232"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.panix.com\/~msaroff\/40years\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/178232\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.panix.com\/~msaroff\/40years\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=178232"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.panix.com\/~msaroff\/40years\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=178232"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.panix.com\/~msaroff\/40years\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=178232"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}