AN APPEALS FOR POSTCARDS

April 23, 2015

Dear Friends:

I am writing to you for help. If you are in San Francisco on Friday, May 1, from 8 AM to 5 PM, I'm hoping you can stop by the Internet Archive at 300 Funston Avenue.

May 1 is Law Day, and I'm asking people to come in and write a brief postcard about why you think that access to PACER is important. More specifically, you'll be writing a postcard to Chief Judge Thomas of the Ninth Circuit of the U.S. Court of Appeals in support of my request that the Court grant us free access to PACER for several courts in the Ninth Circuit. It would be a really big deal if the Court said yes, we're trying to show public support in a way the judges can relate to.

This Law Day campaign is part of a broader campaign to free PACER and make access to our federal judiciary much more meaningful. This is about access to justice, about innovation in our legal system, this is about basic principles of due process and equal protection in our democratic system. I hope you'll come by the Internet Archive and vote for justice. Vote early, vote often. Your vote can make a difference.

The Internet Archive is not the only place to make Law Day a National Day of PACER Protest. If you are in New York, check out this event at Civic Hall featuring a showing of “The Internet's Own Boy,” very brief remarks by visiting dignitaries, and a mass postcard signing ceremony. In Chicago, you can report to the Mass Postcard Desk at John Marshall Law School at 315 S. Plymouth Court.

Carl Malamud
Public.Resource.Org

Image of a Star Image of a Star

For Further Reading

  1. You can see the beautiful postcards we've printed at Moo on Flickr.Com.
  2. The formal request to the Court for a fee exemption can be found on Law.Resource.Org.
  3. A more general explanation of my PACER campaign can be found at Yo.YourHonor.Org.
  4. Don't want to stop by the Internet Archive and prefer to write your own letter to the Judge? You can send it to:
    Clerk of the Court
    Attn: Docket 15-80056
    United States Courts of Appeals
    James Browning Courthouse
    95 7th Street
    San Francisco, CA 94103
  5. A great explanation of PACER was written by Brian Browdie and can be found on Quartz.
  6. Some of the background on how we got into the PACER business can be found in an article by John Schwartz in the New York Times.