Online court archive PACER says it will restore access to missing records

The Administrative Office of the US Courts (or AO) has a plan to restore online access to documents that were controversially removed in August from PACER, the online system for accessing public court records, a spokesperson said.

"The Administrative Office is working to restore electronic access to these cases by converting the docket sheets in these cases to PDF format which will allow us to make them available in PACER," said David Sellers, assistant director for public affairs at the AO. "This process will be completed in the four appellate courts by the end of October. We are also working to provide a similar solution for the dockets on the legacy system in the California Central bankruptcy court." On Aug 10, access to some archives of five courts, including four US federal appellate courts, were removed with little public notice. Weeks later after being pressed by the media, the AO released an explanation: The way that those courts had set up their electronic case files were not compatible with a new system being rolled out by the judiciary, the agency said. Recently, Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy (D-VT) sent a letter to the AO pushing for the restoration of the documents, and raising concerns that Congress was not informed or consulted in the change.