I’ve spent my career looking at public court records. The system for public access is fundamentally flawed. A Thread of why that is bad for our democracy and how to fix it.

First, PACER ( http://www.pacer.gov ) is the website to access court records. The public needs a password to use it. That’s the first red flag. Stop putting roadblocks to access.

You also need to pay to search. The Courts will say most don’t reach the arbitrary limit of a certain amount for payment. I don’t fall in the category. I also don’t think the category should exist.

You need to read everything if you if they want to understand federal court records. If you want to understand how a co-equal branch treats its citizens. There’s policy importance in the space between court districts.

What happens in Maine for a drug charge should have policy ramifications for a case in South Carolina. But not if you don’t see it.

Most courthouses won’t let you bring electronics in. No discernable reason other than they don’t want to be tape.

I don’t want to be tape. But I also am not a senate confirmed federal judge. With local papers dying out in concerning numbers, there’s less watchdogs. Less journalists sitting in the back row. Egregious thing happen when no one thinks anyone is looking.

Local rules are where democracy dies in the darkness. Each district has local rules. They vary dramatically from one court to the next

Some court local rules inherently push for transparency. Automatic unseal of documents after 90 days, for example. Western district of Virginia is good. Other local rules make it impossible

In Chicago, for example, search warrants are only available at the physical courthouse. The clerk argues by doing that its honored its public access requirement. To be clear, they haven't. I shouldn't need to ask a friend in Chicago to go to a courthouse for me.

During COVID, Chicago courthouse was closed. You. Couldn’t. Go. To. The. Courthouse. So how the hell is public supposed to get public documents?

Same with Oregon during the unrests.

Even with those districts that veer towards transparency, it’s usually a façade. In Connecticut, local rules force filing of search warrants. But judges routinely allow DOJ to file search warrants that are *completely redacted*

You tell me how 60 continuous pages of black ink is transparency. It’s the letter, but not the spirit of local rules. No one calls them on it. There’s no a mechanism to. Me twitter dragging isn’t enough

In Central California, I emailed the chief judge about the lack of public search warrants. The clerks office did a review of 4 years of filings. Unsealed thousands of pages. California is now one of the most open districts in country.

I’m overjoyed by that. I’m also saddened it took a random guy on the internet to make that happen. It shouldn’t be this convoluted.

Some local rules don’t let non lawyer file briefs. In a Maryland terrorism case, 50 filings were sealed. I told the judge that was not normal. She said I wasn’t a lawyer and per local rules, find a lawyer or pound sand.

I’m fortunate. I’m vindicative and Irish. I hold grudges for a long time and I can find a lawyer. I ultimately won. You shouldn’t need a wear three piece suit, pass the LSATs, to argue for truth. It’s elitist and outdated.

Think of the possibilities if the public had more access? Want to do sentencing comparisons between those charged in rich areas vs not? Race disparities? Court appointed defenders vs not?

Side note but federal defenders are woefully understaffed and that’s bad for equal justice under the law. Make it more of a fair fight. That said, I'm pick a FD everytime if the Feds coming knocking on terrorism charges.

Want to know if there are more white collar prosecutions in this administration or the last? Immigration charges? Or perhaps, I don’t know, voter fraud in the last two elections?

Maybe you’re interested in whether tech companies are suing small tech companies out of existence? It’ll cost you. It shouldn’t.

So, How do we fix it?

There is no uniformity. No baseline standard for local rules or public access. The Courts should make a minimum standard for sealing and unsealing of documents. All local rules should default towards public access.

The Admin Office of the Courts has an unsealing committee to discuss this. The public isn’t involved in it. They should be. Add a member of the PACER user group. Let us fight it out. I can be convincing, just give us a chance.

Allow the public to search for criminal charges nationwide. Not just do searches (that cost money) in each of the 94 districts. Update the damn drop down for criminal charges so it includes federal charges in the USCode from the last three decades.

Make the docket report for the day free. The public should be, at the very least, able to see what things were filed in the district that day.

The PACER User Group should be a standing group. It should also have more power instead of just advice. I’m tired of being told a bunch of random judges determined my recommendation was too hard. It wasn't. You just don't like change because no one can tell you to change.

PACER should be free. But Congress should step up and pay for it instead of yelling at the Judiciary branch for not wanting to fund an unfunded mandate. Don't get made at the Admin Office for not waiting to take on a millions of dollar project without dedicated funding

Allow electronics in court rooms. Baltimore is the greatest courthouse in the country because of it (and the lovely Lacey Act exhibit on the 4th floor) All hearings should be available through teleconference or zoom. You proved it can happen during COVOID, keep it happening.

It shouldn’t be this hard. I don't want to be a PACER expert. I don't want to train thousands of journalists on it. I don't want to be the NYTimes person on court records. I want it to be intuitive so I'm obsolete. Make my only discernable skill set to be interviewing terrorists.

In conclusion, I spent years going through 20,000 pages of court documents for this book (pre-order here because you stay this long, why not. https://www.amazon.com/Homegrown-Alexander-Meleagrou-Hitchens-Seamus-Hughes/dp/1788314859/ref=tmm_hrd_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=&sr=) . I learned quickly in that process that our system of court records is fundamentally flawed. We can do better.