Hacker News Reader

I'm chiming in a lot, but this is only sort of true. In theory, yes, opinions and orders are free on PACER. In practice clerks have to check a box when they upload each opinion to mark it as free, and yeah....some clerks do a great job. Others do terribly. Some info here: https://free.law/pacer-facts/#written-opinions-are-free-on-p...

View on HN

In my practice, all important opinions were published and freely available. Perhaps there are areas of law where coverage is spotty or delayed, but I literally never needed to use PACER because I didn't work on active litigation (just transactions, opinion letters, client memos and other research-related work).

Right, you can usually find opinions, but in many cases, that's because the provider you're using — WestLaw, Bloomberg, Justia, Google Scholar, whatever — paid for it on your behalf. They (we) have to go to PACER and buy these things too.

These are free

https://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/slipopinion/19

https://www.govinfo.gov/app/collection/uscourts/district/als...

Reply on news.ycombinator.com