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Opinions
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The full texts of court opinions are available online at no charge. Opinions
have been posted since April 16, 2005, as required by the E-Government Act of 2002.
An opinion is defined by the Judicial Conference of the United States as any document issued by the court "that sets forth a reasoned explanation for a court’s decision." The definition excludes routine, non-substantive orders, such as scheduling orders or rulings on motions for extension of time. For the purposes of posting opinions online, judges decide, on a document-by-document basis, whether what they have written qualifies as an opinion. Written opinions for Social Security cases are available here. Other opinions are part of the federal judiciary's Public Access to Court Electronic Records (PACER) system. To access the court's opinions, you must register for PACER. You will be asked for a credit card number. Viewing the opinions is free, but viewing case docket sheets and other records through PACER costs 8 cents per page (with a maximum charge of $2.40 per document). You can register for PACER online on this page.
Once you have registered: Click on "Reports", which is located in the blue bar at the top of your screen. Click on "Written Opinions," which is located under the heading "Criminal and Civil Reports". Limit or expand your search using the search boxes for case number, party name, filing date, etc. Click on the "Run Report" button. |
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