Technology

When Federal Judges Said Free PACER Would Cost $2B, They Were Completely Full Of Crap

Color me absolutely not shocked in the least.

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silly woman slapping hand on head having duh momentIn December 2020, the Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts took the position with Congress that offering free PACER access would cost two BILLION dollars. The year before, Judge Audrey Fleissig of the U.S. District court for the Eastern District of Missouri testified to the House Judiciary Committee that PACER could never be free because it costs the judiciary over $100M/year to operate. As recently as October, U.S. District Judge Roslynn Mauskopf, serving as head of the Administrative Office, said it would cost the courts $1 billion per year and require Congress to send over roughly $500 million just to maintain federal court services.

It will not surprise you to learn that this was all bullshit.

After a federal lawsuit over PACER’s fee structure revealed that the judiciary used the system as a general slush fund, siphoning money out of the revenue legally earmarked to maintain the system for pet projects, Congress finally got the votes together to make PACER free and fulfill the basic promise to provide open public records of federal litigation. That opened the door for the Congressional Budget Office to dig into the proposal. CBO’s first estimate suggested it would cost less than $1 million per year but later work suggested a $77 million cost over the next decade. Finally, the beancounters can report exactly how much it will cost the federal government once and for all…

It will SAVE the government $14 million.

Save. Money. After testifying about $100 million annual costs and $2 billion overhauls, the move is going to save money. From Reuters:

Making the federal judiciary’s online court records system known as PACER free under a pending bill in the U.S. Senate would not add to the federal deficit as initially presumed, but would actually cut it by $14 million over a decade, according to revised estimates from the Congressional Budget Office.

Enacting the Open Courts Act would generate $175 million in net revenues over a decade, offsetting the $161 million in mandatory spending the bill would prompt, according to new estimates by the CBO, Congress’ nonpartisan fiscal referee, released Wednesday by Democratic Senator Ron Wyden of Oregon, a bill sponsor.

The new fees are aimed at high-volume, for-profit entities. It turns out charging those folks putting the biggest strain on the system more than makes up for running a million $1.20 transactions for normal users. Which of course it does.

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Hosting a document database in 2001 was a costly endeavor. Today, Google gives you that kind of storage for opening a Gmail account. The idea that it cost the court massive amounts of money to maintain PACER was either a lie or a symptom of the courts trying to keep an antiquated system afloat rather than transitioning to a modern approach. Or a bit of both. Or a bit of both and a vested interest in a slush fund.

But let’s not dwell on the past. The good news is that we’re finally going to get free open records and the courts no longer have a pool of revenue to siphon money out of:

Citing inflation, U.S. judiciary hikes cost of court transcripts

… here we go again!

Making PACER court records system free wouldn’t add to deficit, CBO says [Reuters]
PACER Court Records ‘Can Never Be Free,’ Judge Says [Bloomberg]

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Earlier: Free PACER Would Cost $2B And Other Completely Made Up Garbage The Federal Judiciary Is Peddling
Appeals Court Confirms What You Already Knew: PACER Is A Rip-Off
Free PACER Searches Coming! Federal Judiciary Boldly Steps Into Early 2000s!
‘Do You Have A Lot Of Trouble Answering Questions Generally In Life Or Just When You Come In Front Of The Court?’

HeadshotJoe Patrice is a senior editor at Above the Law and co-host of Thinking Like A Lawyer. Feel free to email any tips, questions, or comments. Follow him on Twitter if you’re interested in law, politics, and a healthy dose of college sports news. Joe also serves as a Managing Director at RPN Executive Search.

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