PACER Fee Battle Pits Nonprofits, Supporters Against Government

Three nonprofits will ask the Federal Circuit next week to consider a Goldilocks question: whether fees the government charges to access court records are too high, too low, or just right.

The nonprofits say the fees violate federal law because they’re higher than what’s needed to operate the system. They represent a certified class of 1.4 million users of the federal judiciary’s Public Access to Court Records (PACER) system.

The federal court system has come under fire for how it operates PACER, which processed more than 500 million requests for case information last fiscal year. Critics argue the pay system ...