[10722] in Public-Access_Computer_Systems_Forum
Asking Rehnquist to free 14 years of Court Opinions (fwd)
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (PACS-L Moderator)
Mon Oct 14 20:41:37 1996
Date: Mon, 14 Oct 1996 18:19:43 -0500 (CDT)
From: PACS-L Moderator <libpacs@UH.EDU>
To: Multiple recipients of list PACS-L <PACS-L@UHUPVM1.UH.EDU>
Reply-To: Public-Access Computer Systems Forum <PACS-L@UHUPVM1.UH.EDU>
----------------------------Original message----------------------------
>From: James Love <love@tap.org>
>Subject: Asking Rehnquist to free 14 years of Court Opinions (fwd)
> *** Sign-on Letter asking the U.S. Supreme Court to
> release to the public 14 years of court opinions.
>
>The attached sign-on letter asks Chief Justice Rehnquist to put
>into the public domain the electronic copies of the typesetting
>files used to print the official version of all U.S. Supreme
>Court Decisions since 1982.
>
> To add your name to the letter, send a note James Love, at
> love@tap.org, by October 18, 1996.
>
>We are trying to get a copy of the ATEX typesetting files used to
>publish the United States Reports, the government's official
>reporter of U.S. Supreme Court opinions. The Air Force has
>recently released (from its FLITE database) copies of Supreme
>Court decisions from 1937 to 1975. If Rehnquist agrees, the
>public would have free access to 54 of the last 60 years of
>Supreme Court opinions, missing only the opinions from 1976 to
>1981. The records are now controlled by Frank Wagner, the
>Reporter of Decisions for the Supreme Court, who can be reached
>at the court's main number, at 202/479-3000. In 1993 Mr. Wagner
>denied a request by Alan Sugarman for copies of these records.
>Mr. Wagner recently declined to talk with us about the ATEX
>records. The decision about public access to these records is
>reportedly made by Rehnquist himself. For more background on
>issues relating to public access to court opinions, see:
>http://www.essential.org/cpt/legalinfo/legalinfo.html.
>
> jamie (love@tap.org)
>
> The letter follows...
>
>---------------------------------
>
>October 18, 1996
>
>Chief Justice William Rehnquist
>United States Supreme Court
>Washington, DC 20543
>
>Dear Chief Justice Rehnquist:
>
>We are writing to ask that the United States Supreme Court
>release to the public copies of the electronic media used for
>printing the United States Reports. It is our understanding that
>the Court currently has magnetic tapes which contain the
>typesetting computer files used to print the United States
>Reports from 1982 to the present, and that these tapes have not
>been released to the public. We seek to obtain copies of these
>tapes to publish the Supreme Court decisions on the Internet, the
>decisions will be available to the general public, for free. As
>you know, the public has already paid the costs of creating this
>data through tax dollars, and federal law prohibits the copyright
>of works of federal employees. We are willing to pay the court
>any reasonable additional costs associated with making copies of
>the printing tapes. We want to make it clear that we are not
>asking the court to undertake any extra data processing expense,
>outside of making copies of the tapes.*
>----------------------------------------------------
>[*] It is our understanding that the data exists in ATEX typesetting
>format. This is the same format used by GPO to publish the Federal
>Register. GPO gives the public access to the ATEX files of the
>Federal Register, and we urge the Supreme Court to do the same.
>---------------------------------------------------------
>
>This request is part of our larger efforts to enhance the
>public's access to information from the courts. In September the
>U.S. Air Force was persuaded to release a portion of its FLITE
>database of U.S. Supreme Court opinions. The Air Force released
>to the public about 7,400 Supreme Court decisions from 1937 to
>1975. It took more than four years to get the Air Force to
>release these public documents, which were created at taxpayer
>expense. Due to a copyright dispute with West Publishing, the
>Air Force has refused to release copies of its post 1975 Supreme
>Court Opinions, which were typed in from the West Supreme Court
>Reporter, rather than from the government's own United States
>Reports.
>
>As you may know, there is great public frustration over the
>restricted access to federal court opinions. This is a
>particular problem with the U.S. Circuit and District Courts,
>where West Publishing is the only comprehensive publisher of
>opinions, and West asserts a copyright to the corrections that
>appear in the published versions of the opinions, and also to the
>citations to the court opinions. West's activities have had the
>practical effect of giving this private firm a monopoly on the
>version of American jurisprudence that is widely recognized as
>the authoritative record of the lower federal courts.
>
>The Supreme Court has a proud history of making its opinions
>publicly available, through its long-term publication of opinions
>in print through United States Reports, and since 1990 through
>making its slip opinions available to the public electronically.
>The Court should now take the additional step of releasing the
>electronic record of the United States Reports, so that the
>public can be assured of the greatest access to the law.
>
>Sincerely,
>
>....
>
>
>~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
>James Love / love@tap.org / P.O. Box 19367, Washington, DC 20036
>Voice: 202/387-8030; Fax 202/234-5176
>Center for Study of Responsive Law
> Consumer Project on Technology; http://www.essential.org/cpt
> Taxpayer Assets Project; http://www.tap.org
>~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
>
>
>
