Pacer: Find Federal Court Dockets, Pleadings and Now Transcripts Too!

The Judicial Conference of the United States recently voted to make transcripts of federal district and bankruptcy court cases available on PACER (the Public Access to Court Electronic Records system). Ninety days after they are delivered to the clerk, transcripts can be viewed, downloaded, or printed from PACER for eight cents per page. See U.S. Courts Press Release. Source: WisBlawg.

The Library subscribes to Pacer. Cleveland-Marshall faculty, staff and students who need Pacer documents should contact a reference librarian. Otherwise, to access PACER, you must register and provide credit card information. PACER charges 8 cents a page for search results and documents retrieved, but opinions are free. There is a per document cap of $2.40 (30 pages). No fee is owed until an account holder accrues charges of more than $10 in a calendar year. PACER charges money because Congress provided no funds for electronic public access.

PACER was created about a decade ago to provide electronic access to court dockets. Around 2001, courts started to make pdf copies of the documents filed in a case accessible too. Today, most federal appellate courts, district courts and bankruptcy courts have dockets and filings accessible through PACER. The U.S. Supreme Court docket is not on PACER.

For more information on finding court dockets, see the library’s guide: Resources for Finding Court Dockets.