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Senators introduce bill to increase access to federal court records

June 3, 2026, 9:45 am CDT

U.S. Senators reintroduced a bill Tuesday aimed at streamlining access to court records across the federal judiciary and making the system free for anyone to use.

The Open Courts Act would instruct the Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts to develop a new system for record-keeping and electronic filing. Republican U.S. Sen. John Kennedy of Louisiana and Democratic U.S. Sen. Ron Wyden of Oregon sponsored the bill.

The new service would be funded by filing fees and a standard annual fee collected from government agencies by the U.S. Judicial Conference. The bill’s sponsors said they aim to also increase cybersecurity protections and save tens of millions of dollars in operating costs required currently by a “burdensome” federal document repository, according to a story by Courthouse News Service.

CM/ECF, or the Case Management/Electronic Case Files, is used by lawyers to file documents online for most federal courts in the country, while PACER, or the Public Access to Court Electronic Records, is the public interface to the system, according to a story by Law360. Made available online in 2001, PACER charges users a fee to access records.

Critics of PACER said the system is costly, outdated and difficult to navigate. Critics also said users should not have to pay to view public judicial documents.

“Americans should not have to sell plasma or wrestle with clunky government websites just to read public court records,” Kennedy said in a statement. “PACER is old, very expensive and extremely burdensome to use. The Open Courts Act would drag this outdated system into the 21st century, protect court records from hackers, and give taxpayers a better deal. Government services ought to serve the American people—not make them want to put their head through a wall.”

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