US Court PACER Bill Proposes to End Paywall

[grarpamp]

https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2020/09/bill-to-tear-down-federal-courts-paywall-gains-momentum-in-congress/
https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2018/09/new-bill-would-finally-tear-down-federal-judiciarys-ridiculous-paywall/
https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2020/08/appeals-court-finds-users-were-over-charged-for-public-court-records/
https://www.courtlistener.com/recap/

Some PACER users here.

The House Judiciary Committee on Tuesday unanimously approved the Open
Courts Act -- legislation to overhaul PACER, the federal courts'
system for accessing public documents. The proposal would guarantee
free public access to judicial documents, ending the current practice
of charging 10 cents per page for many documents -- as well as search
results. From a report: The bill must still be passed by the full
House and the Senate and signed by the president. With Election Day
just seven weeks away, the act is unlikely to become law during this
session of Congress. Still, the vote is significant because it
indicates the breadth of congressional support for tearing down the
PACER paywall. The legislation is co-sponsored by Rep. Doug Collins
(R-Ga.), whose bill we covered in 2018, and a fellow Georgian,
Democrat Hank Johnson. Prior to Tuesday's vote of the House Judiciary
Committee, the bill received a strong endorsement from Chairman
Jerrold Nadler (D-N.Y.). "It is indefensible that the public must pay
fees, and unjustifiably high fees at that, to know what is happening
in their own courts," Nadler said.