EFF Backs Open Courts Act to Kill PACER Fees and Modernize Federal Filings

The EFF has joined a coalition supporting the Open Courts Act of 2026, which would eliminate the fees charged by PACER, the federal judiciary’s electronic records system. Although court filings are public documents, PACER currently charges users to search and view them—collecting more than $150 million a year and putting access out of reach for many, particularly low-income people. The legislation would replace the aging PACER and CM/ECF platforms with a single modern system aimed at improving public access, hardening security, and lowering long-term operating costs.

The bill revives an earlier effort that cleared the Senate Judiciary Committee with bipartisan support but expired before becoming law. Beyond dropping fees, it promises to make records easier to locate and understand. Backers include Fix the Court, which is leading the push, and the Free Law Project, the group behind RECAP, an open archive of judicial opinions and filings, along with open-government watchdogs, civil society organizations, and media groups.

For the EFF, this is a decade-old fight. The organization has long argued that the public should not have to pay to read the law and the rulings that shape it, and frames open access to court records as a basic requirement of democratic accountability rather than a paid premium.