NVLSP v. United States

Case: 19-1081 Document: 95 Page: 1 Filed: 08/06/2020
United States Court of Appeals
for the Federal Circuit
______________________
NATIONAL VETERANS LEGAL SERVICES
PROGRAM, NATIONAL CONSUMER LAW
CENTER, ALLIANCE FOR JUSTICE,
Plaintiffs-Appellants
v.
UNITED STATES,
Defendant-Cross-Appellant
______________________
2019-1081, 2019-1083
______________________
Appeals from the United States District Court for the
District of Columbia in No. 1:16-cv-00745-ESH, Judge El-
len S. Huvelle.
______________________
Decided: August 6, 2020
______________________
DEEPAK GUPTA, Gupta Wessler PLLC, Washington,
DC, argued for plaintiffs-appellants. Also represented by
JONATHAN TAYLOR; WILLIAM H. NARWOLD, Motley Rice
LLC, Hartford, CT; MEGHAN OLIVER, Mt. Pleasant, SC.
ALISA BETH KLEIN, Appellate Staff, Civil Division,
United States Department of Justice, Washington, DC, ar-
gued for defendant-cross-appellant. Also represented by
MARK B. STERN, ETHAN P. DAVIS.
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2 NVLSP v. UNITED STATES
SEAN MAROTTA, Hogan Lovells US LLP, Washington,
DC, for amici curiae W. Royal Furgeson, Jr., Nancy
Gertner, Brian L. Owsley, Viktor V. Pohorelsky, Shira Ann
Scheindlin, Stephen W. Smith, Richard A. Posner. Also
represented by STEPHEN SCHULTZE, CLAUDIA PARE.
PHILLIP R. MALONE, Juelsgaard Intellectual Property
and Innovation Clinic, Mills Legal Clinic, Stanford Law
School, Stanford, CA, for amici curiae Casetext, Docket
Alarm, Fastcase, Free Law Project, Internet Archive, Judi-
cata, Mark A. Lemley, Ravel, Syntexys, UniCourt.
BRUCE D. BROWN, The Reporters Committee for Free-
dom of the Press, Arlington, VA, for amici curiae The Re-
porters Committee for Freedom of the Press, American
Society of Newspaper Editors, Associated Press Media Ed-
itors, Association of Alternative News Media, First Amend-
ment Coalition, First Look Media Works, Inc.,
International Documentary Association, Investigative Re-
porting Workshop, MPA, National Press Photographers
Association, Online News Association, Radio Television
Digital News Association, Reporters Without Borders, Se-
attle Times Company, Society of Professional Journalists,
Tully Center for Free Speech, Bay Area News Group,
BuzzFeed, California News Publishers Association, Free-
dom of the Press Foundation, The Media Institute, The Na-
tional Press Club, National Press Club Journalism
Institute, New York Times Company, PEN America,
POLITICO LLC, Reveal from the Center for Investigative
Reporting, Sinclair Broadcast Group, Inc.
ELIZABETH WYDRA, Constitutional Accountability Cen-
ter, Washington, DC, for amicus curiae Joseph I. Lieber-
man.
BRETT MAX KAUFMAN, Center for Democracy, American
Civil Liberties Union Foundation, New York, NY, for amici
curiae American Association of Law Libraries, American
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NVLSP v. UNITED STATES 3
Civil Liberties Union, American Library Association, Cato
Institute, Knight First Amendment Institute at Columbia
University.
______________________
Before LOURIE, CLEVENGER, and HUGHES, Circuit Judges.
HUGHES, Circuit Judge.
These interlocutory cross-appeals challenge the district
court’s interpretation of a statutory note to 28 U.S.C.
§ 1913 permitting the federal judiciary to charge “reasona-
ble fees” for “access to information available through auto-
matic data processing equipment.” Plaintiffs contend that
under this provision unlawfully excessive fees have been
charged for accessing federal court records through the
Public Access to Court Electronic Records (PACER) system
and that the district court identifies too little unlawful ex-
cess. The government argues that the district court iden-
tifies too much (and also that the district court lacked
jurisdiction). We conclude that the district court got it just
right. We therefore affirm and remand for further proceed-
ings.
I
The statutory note at issue follows the section text of
28 U.S.C. § 1913 and provides in relevant part:
COURT FEES FOR ELECTRONIC ACCESS TO
INFORMATION
....
“(a) The Judicial Conference may, only to the ex-
tent necessary, prescribe reasonable fees, pursuant
to sections 1913, 1914, 1926, 1930, and 1932 of ti-
tle 28, United States Code, for collection by the
courts under those sections for access to infor-
mation available through automatic data pro-
cessing equipment. These fees may distinguish
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4 NVLSP v. UNITED STATES
between classes of persons, and shall provide for
exempting persons or classes of persons from the
fees, in order to avoid unreasonable burdens and to
promote public access to such information. The Di-
rector of the Administrative Office of the United
States Courts, under the direction of the Judicial
Conference of the United States, shall prescribe a
schedule of reasonable fees for electronic access to
information which the Director is required to main-
tain and make available to the public.
(b) The Judicial Conference and the Director
shall transmit each schedule of fees prescribed un-
der paragraph (a) to the Congress at least 30 days
before the schedule becomes effective. All fees
hereafter collected by the Judiciary under para-
graph (a) as a charge for services rendered shall be
deposited as offsetting collections to the Judiciary
Automation Fund pursuant to 28 U.S.C.
[§] 612(c)(1)(A) to reimburse expenses incurred in
providing these services.”
28 U.S.C. § 1913 note (2012) (§ 1913 Note). 1
To briefly introduce the players referenced, the Admin-
istrative Office of the United States Courts (AO) is an
agency within the judicial branch that provides a broad
range of support services to federal courts; and the Judicial
Conference is the national policymaking body for the fed-
eral courts, made up of the Chief Justice and certain fed-
eral judges from each judicial circuit, see 28 U.S.C. § 331.
These two bodies act in concert, with the AO advising and
supporting the Judicial Conference, and developing the
1 That this text appears as a statutory note, rather
than as section text, is “of no moment.” Conyers v. Merit
Sys. Prot. Bd., 388 F.3d 1380, 1382 n.2 (Fed. Cir. 2004).
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NVLSP v. UNITED STATES 5
annual judiciary budget for congressional approval, with
input from the Judicial Conference.
Congress passed the original version of § 1913 Note in
the early 1990s soon after the Judicial Conference, in 1988,
first authorized an “experimental program of electronic ac-
cess for the public to court information.” REPORT OF THE
PROCEEDINGS OF THE JUDICIAL CONFERENCE OF THE UNITED
STATES 83 (Sept. 14, 1988) (1988 JUD. CONF. REP.) 2;
J.A. 2903. This “experimental program” eventually grew
into the PACER system used today for online access to fed-
eral court dockets and case records. See Judiciary Appro-
priations Act, 1991, Pub. L. No. 101-515, § 404, 104 Stat.
2101, 2132–33 (1990); Judiciary Appropriations Act, 1992,
Pub. L. No. 102-140, § 303, 105 Stat. 782, 810 (1991). Sec-
tion 1913 Note was last amended by the E-Government Act
of 2002, Pub. L. No. 107-347, § 205(e), 116 Stat. 2899, 2915
(2002). Before PACER’s advent, federal court dockets and
filings were all on paper. If members of the public wanted
to view those records, they had to travel to the courthouse
to request access. PACER revolutionized public access to
federal courts by making dockets and electronic case rec-
ords viewable from any web-connected computer.
Since PACER’s inception, the Judicial Conference has
charged fees for its use because Congress has never appro-
priated funds to cover the cost of PACER operations.
J.A. 2589, 2632. Although the federal judiciary is an inde-
pendent branch of government, it depends largely on ap-
propriations of taxpayer dollars from Congress in order to
function. See, e.g., J.A. 455–2351 (excerpts of Financial
Services and General Government Appropriations budget
requests to the House Committee on Appropriations).
2 This and other Reports of Proceedings for the Judi-
cial Conference are available online at https://www.
uscourts.gov/about-federal-courts/reports-proceedings-ju-
dicial-conference-us.
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6 NVLSP v. UNITED STATES
Annual appropriations for the judiciary cover judge and
staff salaries, federal defender services, courthouse secu-
rity, and juror payments, among other things. But the ju-
diciary can also self-fund certain services and operations
by charging fees to the public for using them. PACER has
operated as one of these self-funded services.
When PACER was only accessible by dial-up phone con-
nection, 3 fees were charged by the minute. Once PACER
moved to a web interface in 1998, the Judicial Conference
started charging users $0.07 per page for downloads and
printing—which increased to $0.10 per page in 2012—sub-
ject to certain exemptions, waivers, and caps. The applica-
ble fees are listed in a periodically updated Electronic
Public Access (EPA) Fee Schedule (available at
https://www.uscourts.gov/services-forms/fees/electronic-
public-access-fee-schedule) in accordance with § 1913 Note,
paragraph (a). 4 During the period relevant to this litiga-
tion, the Judicial Conference used these PACER fees to
3 “Users with dial-in telephone modems . . . could re-
ceive docket sheet information, and see thumbnail case
summaries on their computer screens.” U.S. COURTS,
25 Years Later, PACER, Electronic Filing Continue to
Change Courts 3 (Dec. 9, 2013), https://www.uscourts.gov/
news/2013/12/09/25-years-later-pacer-electronic-filing-
continue-change-courts (25 Years of PACER).
4 Fees for downloading documents via PACER
(“PACER fees”) are one of three categories of EPA fees,
alongside charges for printing copies of records accessed
electronically at a courthouse public terminal, and various
PACER Service Center charges. J.A. 2522. Because the
courthouse printing and Service Center fees constitute only
a fraction of a percent of the revenue collected in PACER
fees, though, we refer to PACER fees and EPA fees inter-
changeably.
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NVLSP v. UNITED STATES 7
fund six EPA programs and projects in addition to funding
the operation of PACER itself:
1. Case Management and Electronic Case Filing
(CM/ECF) System. As will be explained in more de-
tail, the judiciary started developing CM/ECF in the
late 1990s as a counterpart to PACER. As today’s
practitioners are well-aware, CM/ECF enables at-
torneys and self-represented parties to file and up-
date court records electronically over the internet; it
also allows clerk’s offices to maintain completely
electronic case files and dockets. There are no added
fees for filing documents using CM/ECF, beyond the
standard court filing fees. Non-parties accessing
electronically filed documents, however, must use
PACER and pay any applicable PACER fees.
2. Electronic Bankruptcy Noticing (EBN). EBN is
a free service provided by U.S. Bankruptcy Courts
that electronically transmits court-generated bank-
ruptcy notices to parties listed in the case. These
notices were previously transmitted by mail.
3. State of Mississippi Study. This program was a
three-year feasibility study that involved sharing
CM/ECF software and federal court documents with
the State of Mississippi to provide electronic public
access to Mississippi state court documents.
4. Violent Crime Control Act (VCCA) Notification
System. The VCCA Notification system electroni-
cally notifies local police when new court documents
are filed in cases of federal offenders under super-
vised release.
5. Web-Based Juror Services. The federal juror
management system, “E-Juror,” provides prospec-
tive jurors with electronic copies of court documents
regarding their jury service.
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8 NVLSP v. UNITED STATES
6. Courtroom Technology. Courtroom Technology
funds cover the maintenance, replacement, and up-
grade of courtroom technology, including equipment
used for electronically presenting evidence to court-
room audiences as well as digital audio recording
equipment.
II
In April 2016, plaintiffs—three national nonprofit or-
ganizations that have downloaded public court records via
PACER—brought a class action against the United States,
alleging that the incurred PACER fees “exceeded the
amount that could lawfully be charged” under § 1913 Note
because the fees did not reflect the cost of operating
PACER alone. J.A. 87 ¶ 34. Plaintiffs alleged that each
individual download of a public record for which they were
charged gave rise to a separate “illegal exaction” claim—
that is, a claim that money was “improperly paid, exacted,
or taken from the claimant” in violation of law, Norman v.
United States, 429 F.3d 1081, 1095 (Fed. Cir. 2005).
J.A. 75, 87 ¶ 34. Asserting subject-matter jurisdiction un-
der the Little Tucker Act, 28 U.S.C. § 1346, plaintiffs
sought the “return or refund of the excessive PACER fees”
collected over the previous six years, from 2010 to 2016. 5
J.A. 77 ¶ 5; J.A. 87 ¶ 34.
In January 2017, after denying the government’s mo-
tion to dismiss, the district court certified an opt-out class
consisting of all individuals and entities who had paid
PACER fees between April 21, 2010, and April 21, 2016,
excluding federal government entities and present class
counsel. And the court certified one class claim: “that the
fees charged for accessing court records through the
PACER system are higher than necessary to operate
5 See 28 U.S.C. § 2401(a) (setting a six-year statute
of limitations for civil actions against the United States).
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NVLSP v. UNITED STATES 9
PACER and thus violate the E-Government Act, entitling
plaintiffs to monetary relief from the excessive fees under
the Little Tucker Act.” J.A. 2354.
After some limited informal discovery, the parties filed
cross-motions for summary judgment regarding liability.
Plaintiffs interpreted § 1913 Note as prohibiting the judi-
ciary “from charging more in PACER fees than is necessary
to recoup the total marginal cost of operating PACER.”
Nat’l Veterans Legal Servs. Program v. United States,
291 F. Supp. 3d 123, 139 (D.D.C. 2018) (Summary Judg-
ment Opinion) (quoting plaintiffs’ motion). The govern-
ment, by contrast, argued that the statute allows the
judiciary to use PACER fees “to fund the dissemination of
information through electronic means.” Id. at 140 (quoting
motion hearing transcript).
The district court adopted neither of these extremes.
Instead, after thoroughly charting the legislative history of
§ 1913 Note against the backdrop of the judiciary’s devel-
opment of PACER and CM/ECF, the court determined that
§ 1913 Note limited “the use of PACER fees to expenses in-
curred in providing services, such as CM/ECF and EBN,
that are part of providing the public with access to elec-
tronic information maintained and stored by the federal
courts on its CM/ECF docketing system.” Id. at 149. Ac-
cordingly, the court decided that the federal judiciary
properly used PACER fees to pay for the costs of operating
CM/ECF and EBN; but that it should not have used
PACER fees to pay for the Mississippi Study, VCCA Noti-
fication, Web-Based Juror Services, and most of the ex-
penditures for Courtroom Technology. Id. at 145–46,
149–50.
The district court denied plaintiffs’ motion for sum-
mary judgment as to liability—while finding the govern-
ment liable for the above four expenditures—and granted-
in-part and denied-in-part the government’s cross-motion.
Id. at 140, 151. At the parties’ request, the court later
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10 NVLSP v. UNITED STATES
certified the summary judgment order for interlocutory ap-
peal under 28 U.S.C. § 1292(b) and stayed further proceed-
ings. Nat’l Veterans Legal Servs. Program v. United States,
321 F. Supp. 3d 150 (D.D.C. 2018). With our permission,
see Nat’l Veterans Legal Servs. Program v. United States,
No. 2018-154 (Fed. Cir. Oct. 16, 2018), Dkt. No. 9, the par-
ties filed these cross-appeals. We have jurisdiction under
28 U.S.C. § 1292(b), (c)(1).
III
We first address the government’s argument that we
should vacate the summary judgment order because the
district court lacked Little Tucker Act jurisdiction over the
case. Specifically, the government contends that the trial
court lacked jurisdiction over plaintiffs’ illegal exaction
claim because § 1913 Note does not provide a cause of ac-
tion with a monetary remedy. We disagree.
“Whether a district court has subject matter jurisdic-
tion over an action is a question of law that we review de
novo.” De Archibold v. United States, 499 F.3d 1310, 1313
(Fed. Cir. 2007). We may resolve this jurisdictional issue
for the first time on appeal. 6 Fanning, Phillips & Molnar
v. West, 160 F.3d 717, 720 (Fed. Cir. 1998).
“District courts have jurisdiction under the Little
Tucker Act to hear claims ‘against the United States, not
exceeding $10,000[.]’” Corr v. Metro. Washington Airports
Auth., 702 F.3d 1334, 1336 (Fed. Cir. 2012) (quoting
28 U.S.C. § 1346(a)(2)). Because the Little Tucker Act it-
self is simply a jurisdictional statute, we must determine
6 In its motion to dismiss, the government offered a
version of its present jurisdictional argument (that § 1913
Note does not provide a monetary remedy) as one of several
reasons the district court should dismiss the complaint.
But the district court did not directly address that argu-
ment in denying the motion.
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NVLSP v. UNITED STATES 11
whether the only other federal provision alleged—§ 1913
Note—“confer[s] a substantive right to recover money dam-
ages from the United States.” United States v. Testan,
424 U.S. 392, 398 (1976).
Plaintiffs’ theory of jurisdiction rests on their “illegal
exaction” claim that the government unlawfully charged
them excessive PACER fees and must return the amount
found to exceed the marginal cost of operating PACER dur-
ing the period in question. Illegal exaction claims are one
of two classes of non-contract claims over which the Little
Tucker Act provides district court jurisdiction. 7 See On-
tario Power Generation, Inc. v. United States,
369 F.3d 1298, 1301 (Fed. Cir. 2004). Both rest on the
principle that to invoke (Little) Tucker Act jurisdiction, the
plaintiff must identify a statute, or other source of federal
law, entitling her to receive money from the government.
But the two classes of non-contract claims demonstrate
that entitlement through different routes. In the illegal ex-
action class of claims, “the plaintiff has paid money over to
the [g]overnment, directly or in effect, and seeks return of
all or part of that sum.” Eastport S.S. Corp. v. United
States, 372 F.2d 1002, 1007 (Ct. Cl. 1967) (en banc). The
classic example of an illegal exaction claim is a tax refund
suit. Norman, 429 F.3d at 1095. The second class of non-
contract claims—commonly coined “money-mandating”—
involves “demands in which money has not been paid but
the plaintiff asserts that he is nevertheless entitled to a
7 The Little Tucker Act follows the same rules as its
bigger sibling, the Tucker Act, 28 U.S.C. § 1491(a)(1),
which assigns jurisdiction exclusively to the Court of Fed-
eral Claims regardless of the monetary amount claimed.
United States v. Bormes, 568 U.S. 6, 10 n.2 (2012); Evans
v. United States, 694 F.3d 1377, 1379 n.5 (Fed. Cir. 2012).
This opinion therefore discusses jurisdictional decisions
under both statutes interchangeably.
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12 NVLSP v. UNITED STATES
payment from the treasury” for some covered type of injury.
Eastport S.S., 372 F.3d at 1007. Because in this second
class of claims no money is alleged to have been ceded im-
properly to the government in the first place, plaintiffs are
required to identify a “money-mandating” statute (or other
source of federal law) authorizing monetary damages for
its violation in order to invoke Little Tucker Act jurisdic-
tion. Ontario Power, 369 F.3d at 1301; see Eastport S.S.,
372 F.3d at 1007. For example, suits against the govern-
ment for disability retired pay and wrongful dismissal ac-
tions for back pay fall in this second class of claims
requiring a “money-mandating” source. Eastport S.S.,
372 F.3d at 1008.
The above two classes of Little Tucker Act claims are
flip sides of the same coin: the illegal exaction class com-
prises claims for the return of money collected in the “ab-
sence of statutory authorization” while the money-
mandating class comprises claims for money “founded on
statutory authority.” Aerolineas Argentinas v. United
States, 77 F.3d 1564, 1579 (Fed. Cir. 1996) (Nies, J., con-
curring). Both require a statute or other federal source be-
yond the Tucker Act itself. But illegal exaction claims
assert the statute’s prior improper use as a basis to recover
money paid; money-mandating claims ask the court to ap-
ply the statute in the first instance to award damages. See
Ontario Power, 369 F.3d at 1301 (distinguishing illegal ex-
action claims from money-mandating claims, and specify-
ing that claims in the money-mandating category “require
that the ‘particular provision of law relied upon grants the
claimant, expressly or by implication, a right to be paid a
certain sum’” (quoting Eastport S.S., 372 F.2d at 1007));
see also Martinez v. United States, 333 F.3d 1295, 1302–03
(Fed. Cir. 2003) (en banc) (describing Tucker Act authority
for both “actions to recover illegal exactions” and “actions
brought pursuant to money-mandating” sources).
Despite this long-recognized distinction, the govern-
ment here argues that plaintiffs’ illegal exaction claim fails
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NVLSP v. UNITED STATES 13
because its statutory source, § 1913 Note, does not provide
a cause of action for damages. Essentially attempting to
inject a money-mandating requirement into the illegal ex-
action class of Little Tucker Act claims, the government re-
lies on the following language from Norman: “To invoke
Tucker Act jurisdiction over an illegal exaction claim, a
claimant must demonstrate that the statute or provision
causing the exaction itself provides, either expressly or by
‘necessary implication,’ that ‘the remedy for its violation
entails a return of money unlawfully exacted.’” 429 F.3d
at 1095 (quoting Cyprus Amax Coal Co. v. United States,
205 F.3d 1369, 1373 (Fed. Cir. 2000)). And according to the
government, § 1913 Note does not expressly or impliedly
provide for a return of any excess fees to PACER users.
The government argues that, based on Norman, a
money-mandating statute is required for illegal exaction
claims just as it is for money-mandating claims. We need
not decide whether that is true because in this case the
statute does provide “by necessary implication” that the
remedy for its violation is the return of money unlawfully
exacted. Norman, 429 F.3d at 1095 (internal quotation
marks omitted). We acknowledge that § 1913 Note no-
where explicitly requires payment of damages by the gov-
ernment for overcharging users. But because § 1913 Note
is a fee-authorizing statute, and the government is alleged
to have illegally collected more than the authorized fee, the
necessarily implied remedy for any violation through over-
charging is that the government must return the excess
fees collected. See Norman, 429 F.3d at 1095; Cyprus
Amax, 205 F.3d at 1373. When the government “‘has the
citizen’s money in its pocket,’” the Tucker Act permits suit
“to recover the money exacted.” Aerolineas Argentinas v.
United States, 77 F.3d 1564, 1573 (Fed. Cir. 1996) (quoting
Clapp v. United States, 117 F. Supp. 576, 580 (Ct. Cl.
1954)).
We need not decide that an illegal exaction claim is the
default remedy for misuse of a fee-imposing statute. In this
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14 NVLSP v. UNITED STATES
case, however, the illegal exaction claim possesses all the
basic elements for Little Tucker Act jurisdiction: a non-tort
claim against the United States pursuant to a federal
source of law whose violation entitles the plaintiff to money
from the government. 8 In this case, where the statute au-
thorizes the government to collect a fee for certain pur-
poses, and it is alleged that the government collected fees
in excess of the statutory authorization, the “necessary im-
plication” is that the fees can be recovered through an ille-
gal exaction claim. There is no need to find a separate
express money damages provision in the fee-authorizing
statute for a plaintiff to proceed under the (Little) Tucker
Act. See Aerolineas, 77 F.3d at 1573–74.
The sole certified class claim here asserts that the
value sued for—the excessive PACER fees remitted 9—was
improperly collected in contravention of a statute, namely
§ 1913 Note. J.A. 87 ¶ 34; J.A. 2354. Plaintiffs’ complaint
accordingly states a claim over which the district court had
jurisdiction under the Little Tucker Act. See N.Y. Life Ins.
Co. v. United States, 118 F.3d 1553, 1556 (Fed. Cir. 1997);
Eastport S.S., 372 F.2d at 1007.
8 Of course, plaintiffs also must plausibly allege that
the exaction was truly due to a misapplication of the stat-
ute identified as having been violated. See Ontario Power,
369 F.3d at 1303 (“[T]he government is considered to have
illegally exacted money from a plaintiff only where the gov-
ernment’s actions . . . have a direct and substantial impact
on the plaintiff . . . .” (internal quotations omitted)). But no
causality problems are raised in this appeal.
9 We reject the government’s argument that, to con-
fer jurisdiction, the complaint must identify precisely the
amount each plaintiff has individually overpaid.
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NVLSP v. UNITED STATES 15
IV
Turning to the merits, the only issue presented in the
main appeal is one of statutory interpretation, as neither
party has identified any material disputed factual issues at
this stage. We review de novo the district court’s statutory
interpretation. BASR P’ship v. United States,
915 F.3d 771, 776 (Fed. Cir. 2019). “We focus our inquiry
on the statutory language.” Id. Our “first step ‘is to deter-
mine whether the language at issue has a plain and unam-
biguous meaning.’” Barnhart v. Sigmon Coal Co.,
534 U.S. 438, 450 (2002) (quoting Robinson v. Shell Oil Co.,
519 U.S. 337, 340 (1997)). In making this assessment, we
secondarily consider the surrounding legislative history
and principles of constitutional avoidance.
A
On appeal, the parties reassert basically the same tex-
tual arguments presented to the district court. Plaintiffs
argue that the plain language of § 1913 Note unambigu-
ously prohibits setting PACER fees above the amount nec-
essary to recover the costs of providing access to records via
PACER. Drawing from various portions of the text, plain-
tiffs read § 1913 Note to authorize fees “only to the extent
necessary” “to reimburse expenses incurred in providing”
the “services rendered” (i.e., PACER access) in exchange for
the fees. Appellants’ Br. 24–26 (quoting § 1913 Note). In
other words, they say, “PACER fees must be limited to
PACER costs.” Id. at 2. In plaintiffs’ view, the district
court thus erred by interpreting § 1913 Note to allow set-
ting PACER fees high enough to cover the costs of operat-
ing CM/ECF, EBN, and courtroom audio recording
equipment in addition to PACER operating costs.
The government maintains its opposing construction,
drawn primarily from the statute’s opening sentence, that
§ 1913 Note authorizes setting fees to the extent necessary
“for access to information available through automatic data
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16 NVLSP v. UNITED STATES
processing equipment.” 10 Government’s Opening Br. 26
(quoting § 1913 Note). According to the government, the
district court erred by limiting the permissible costs cover-
able by PACER fees to only the above three programs—be-
cause the four remaining disallowed programs were also
services that provide electronic access to information.
We do not accept either party’s reading. Instead, we
agree with the district court’s interpretation that § 1913
Note limits PACER fees to the amount needed to cover ex-
penses incurred in services providing public access to fed-
eral court electronic docketing information.
Plaintiffs overread the statutory text while the govern-
ment underreads it. Plaintiffs arrive at their textual inter-
pretation by combining several phrases from opposite ends
of § 1913 Note. They combine part of the first sentence of
paragraph (a) (“The Judicial Conference may, only to the
extent necessary, prescribe reasonable fees . . . .”) with two
parts of the last sentence of paragraph (b) (“to reimburse
expenses incurred in providing” the “services rendered,”
which plaintiffs construe to mean PACER access), paying
10 We understand “access to information available
through automatic data processing equipment” to mean, in
modern parlance, “electronic access to information.” At the
time of § 1913 Note’s enactment, “automatic data pro-
cessing equipment” was defined as “any equipment or in-
terconnected system or subsystems of equipment that is
used in the automatic acquisition, storage, manipulation,
management, movement, control, display, switching inter-
change, transmission, or reception, of data or information.”
Summary Judgment Opinion, 291 F. Supp. 3d at 128 n.4
(discussing 28 U.S.C. § 612(k) (1990) and 40 U.S.C.
§ 759(a)(2)(A) (1990)). Both the district court and the gov-
ernment have treated the phrase, as we do, to mean elec-
tronic access to information, and plaintiffs do not contest
this definition.
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NVLSP v. UNITED STATES 17
little heed to the substantial amount of text in between.
This seems to us an odd way to read a statute.
By focusing on the “only to the extent necessary” por-
tion of the first sentence of paragraph (a), plaintiffs fail to
address the significance of the remainder of the sentence,
which reads in relevant part: “The Judicial Conference
may, only to the extent necessary, prescribe reasonable
fees . . . for access to information available through auto-
matic data processing equipment.” § 1913 Note para. (a)
(emphasis added). Read on its own, and in its entirety, this
sentence does not suggest any specific restriction on what
expenses these fees may cover. As plaintiffs point out, the
phrase “only to the extent necessary” markedly omits any
object, leaving us to wonder: “only to the extent necessary”
to what? Plaintiffs direct us to the very end of para-
graph (b) to answer that question: only to the extent neces-
sary “to reimburse expenses incurred in providing” PACER
access. But, again, we are unpersuaded that Congress
would bury the object of a restriction so far from the alleg-
edly restrictive prefatory text. Looking at paragraph (b) in
full confirms the incorrectness of plaintiffs’ reading. The
final sentence reads, as relevant: “All fees hereafter col-
lected by the Judiciary under paragraph (a) as a charge for
services rendered shall be deposited as offsetting collec-
tions to the Judiciary Automation Fund . . . to reimburse
expenses incurred in providing these services.” § 1913
Note para. (b). This sentence simply conveys that any EPA
services will be at least somewhat self-funded; it does not
limit the amount of fees to be imposed or the type of ren-
dered EPA service to be “offset[].”
Plaintiffs also argue that the E-Government Act of
2002’s amendment of § 1913 Note requires that we read the
statute to restrict PACER fees from exceeding the amount
necessary to offset PACER costs. Before the 2002 amend-
ment, the first sentence of paragraph (a) read: “The Judi-
cial Conference shall hereafter prescribe reasonable
fees . . . for access to information available through
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18 NVLSP v. UNITED STATES
automatic data processing equipment.” 28 U.S.C.
§ 1913 note (Supp. V 1988) (emphasis added). Sec-
tion 205(e) of the E-Government Act, entitled “Cost of
Providing Electronic Docketing Information,” replaced the
phrase “shall hereafter” so that the first sentence would
read, as it now does: “The Judicial Conference may, only to
the extent necessary, prescribe reasonable fees . . . .”
28 U.S.C. § 1913 note (2012) (emphasis added); see Pub. L.
No. 107-347, § 205(e), 116 Stat. 2899, 2915 (2002). Plain-
tiffs urge that the only way to give meaning to the new
phrase “only to the extent necessary” is to understand it as
limiting the scope of the fee authorization. Appellants’
Br. 28–29, 41–42 (“When Congress acts to amend a statute,
we presume it intends its amendment to have real and sub-
stantial effect.” (quoting Ross v. Blake, 136 S. Ct. 1850,
1858 (2016) (alterations removed in original))).
We disagree. By its plain text, the amendment simply
changed the fee structure from a mandatory to a permis-
sive scheme. Whereas the judiciary previously was re-
quired to charge fees for electronic access to court
information, after the 2002 amendment it could choose
whether to do so. The language “only to the extent neces-
sary” certainly suggests that Congress sought to encourage
the judiciary to limit its imposition of such fees—since oth-
erwise the amendment could have simply swapped “shall”
for “may.” But, as we continue to stress, the text lacks a
clear object or purpose of the supposed limitation (“only to
the extent necessary” to what?) and we are unwilling to
supply one of our own—or one of plaintiffs’—making. If
Congress had intended to limit fees only to the extent nec-
essary to reimburse expenses incurred in providing access
to PACER, it would have said so more clearly. We can give
full effect to the 2002 amendment by reading it as removing
the electronic access fee obligation and encouraging the ju-
diciary to rein in fees—without imparting any specific lim-
itation on the fee-setting.
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NVLSP v. UNITED STATES 19
But the government’s textual arguments stray too far
in the other direction. We reject the government’s proposed
textual interpretation of § 1913 Note as authorizing fees to
cover costs related to any electronic court access service or
program. The opening sentence of paragraph (a), on its
own, supports the government’s interpretation, as it au-
thorizes charging fees for electronic access to information
without any express restrictions. Reading that sentence
within the context of § 1913 Note as a whole, and against
the legislative history surrounding its enactment and
amendment, however, leads us to affirm the two limita-
tions the district court identified: Section 1913 Note limits
the use of PACER fees to expenses incurred in providing
(1) electronic access for members of the public (2) to infor-
mation stored on a federal court docketing system. See
Summary Judgment Opinion, 291 F. Supp. 3d at 149. 11
B
The district court thoroughly charted the development
of PACER and CM/ECF against the backdrop of numerous
congressional appropriations acts and committee reports,
as well as the E-Government Act. We summarize the most
relevant portions of that timeline with a few additions.
In 1988, the Judicial Conference authorized the
PACER pilot program in several bankruptcy and district
courts—described as “an experimental program of elec-
tronic access for the public to court information.” 1988 JUD.
CONF. REP. at 83; J.A. 2903. Two years later, Congress
11 To the extent the government maintains its argu-
ment that paragraph (b)’s directive to deposit the fees in
the Judiciary Automation Fund (now the Judiciary Infor-
mation Technology Fund), 28 U.S.C. § 612, dictates the
broad use of those fees, we reject this argument for the rea-
sons explained by the district court. See Summary Judg-
ment Opinion, 291 F. Supp. 3d at 143.
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20 NVLSP v. UNITED STATES
enacted the first version of the predecessor to § 1913 Note.
Judiciary Appropriations Act, 1991, Pub. L. No. 101-515,
§ 404, 104 Stat. 2101, 2132–33 (1990). 12 The accompany-
ing Senate Committee on Appropriations report stated that
§ 404 of the Act “authorizes the Judicial Conference to pre-
scribe reasonable fees for public access to case information,
to reimburse the courts for automating the collection of the
information.” S. REP. NO. 101-515, at 86 (1990).
In 1992, PACER expanded to additional district and
bankruptcy courts. J.A. 2589. That summer, the House
Committee on Appropriations noted that “the Judiciary’s
investments in automation have resulted in enhanced ser-
vice to the public and to other Government agencies in
making court records relating to litigation available by
electronic media,” with more than 75 courts providing this
service, and mostly for free. H.R. REP. NO. 102-709, at 58
(1992). The Committee “request[ed] that the Judiciary
equip all courts, as rapidly as is feasible, with the capabil-
ity for making such records available electronically and for
collecting fees for doing so,” in accordance with § 1913
Note. Id.
In 1995, the Judicial Conference approved changes in
the federal rules to permit the electronic filing of case doc-
uments. Peter W. Martin, Online Access to Court Rec-
ords—from Documents to Data, Particulars to Patterns,
53 VILL. L. REV. 855, 861 n.26 (2008). In 1996, a few federal
courts began experimenting with systems for electronic fil-
ing. ADMIN. OFFICE OF THE U.S. COURTS, ELECTRONIC CASE
FILES IN THE FEDERAL COURTS: A PRELIMINARY
12 The initially enacted language was not added to the
U.S. Code. An appropriations act the following year sup-
plied the almost identical language that was codified at
§ 1913 note. Judiciary Appropriations Act, 1992, Pub. L.
No. 102-140, § 303, 105 Stat. 782, 810 (1991); 28 U.S.C.
§ 1913 note (Supp. V 1988).
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NVLSP v. UNITED STATES 21
EXAMINATION OF GOALS, ISSUES, AND THE ROAD AHEAD (dis-
cussion draft) vii, 4 (1997). That year’s House and Senate
appropriations committee reports lauded the judiciary’s ef-
forts to enhance electronic public access while emphasizing
that these efforts were to be funded via EPA fees. See H.R.
REP. NO. 104-676, at 89 (1996) (“The Committee supports
the ongoing efforts of the Judiciary to improve and expand
information made available in electronic form to the public.
Accordingly, the Committee expects the Judiciary to utilize
available balances derived from electronic public access
fees in the Judiciary Automation Fund to make infor-
mation and services more accessible to the public through
improvements to enhance the availability of electronic in-
formation.”); S. REP. NO. 104-353, at 88 (1996) (“The Com-
mittee supports efforts of the judiciary to make electronic
information available to the public, and expects that avail-
able balances from public access fees in the judiciary auto-
mation fund will be used to enhance availability of public
access.”). The House appropriations committee specifically
suggested “enhancements such as electronic case docu-
ments, electronic filings, enhanced use of the Internet, and
electronic bankruptcy noticing.” H.R. REP. NO. 104-676,
at 89.
The development of the CM/ECF case management
and e-filing system continued throughout the late 1990s,
with the national rollout carrying through the early 2000s.
In 1998, the judiciary developed a web interface for PACER
and set a $0.07 per page fee for accessing case filings over
the internet. J.A. 2589. In 2002, 11 district courts and 40
bankruptcy courts were using CM/ECF. 25 Years of
PACER.
In December 2002, Congress passed the E-Government
Act, sponsored by Senator Joseph Lieberman. Pub. L.
No. 107-347, 116 Stat. 2899 (2002). The E-Government
Act’s stated purpose was “[t]o enhance the management
and promotion of electronic Government services and pro-
cesses,” in part by requiring use of “Internet-based
Case: 19-1081 Document: 95 Page: 22 Filed: 08/06/2020
22 NVLSP v. UNITED STATES
information technology to enhance citizen access to Gov-
ernment information and services.” 116 Stat. 2899 (title).
Section 205 of the Act set several new requirements for fed-
eral courts: to create and regularly maintain court websites
providing (among other things) access to “docket infor-
mation” for each case; and to “make any document that is
filed electronically publicly available online,” subject to cer-
tain exceptions. § 205(a)–(c), 116 Stat. at 2913–14. It also
required the Judicial Conference to “explore the feasibility
of technology to post online dockets with links allowing all
filings, decisions, and rulings in each case to be obtained
from the docket sheet of that case.” § 205(d),
116 Stat. at 2915. In its final substantive subsection di-
rected to the judiciary, entitled “Cost of Providing Elec-
tronic Docketing Information,” the E-Government Act
amended § 1913 Note, as discussed above, to make EPA
fees permissive rather than mandatory. § 205(e),
116 Stat. at 2915.
The accompanying Senate Governmental Affairs Com-
mittee Report stated that by amending § 1913 Note, see
§ 205(e), the Committee “intend[ed] to encourage the Judi-
cial Conference to move from a fee structure in which elec-
tronic docketing systems are supported primarily by user
fees to a fee structure in which this information is freely
available to the greatest extent possible.” S. REP.
NO. 107-174, at 23 (2002). The Committee then cited
PACER as an example of a public access service where, un-
der existing law, users were being “charged fees that are
higher than the marginal cost of disseminating the infor-
mation.” Id.
Still, the next year’s congressional appropriations com-
mittee reports expressed support for CM/ECF along with
an expectation that it would be funded by EPA fees. See
H.R. REP. NO. 108-221, at 116 (2003) (“The Committee ex-
pects the fee for the [EPA] program to provide for
[CM/ECF] system enhancements and operational costs.”);
S. REP. NO. 108-144, at 118 (2003); 149 CONG REC. H12323,
Case: 19-1081 Document: 95 Page: 23 Filed: 08/06/2020
NVLSP v. UNITED STATES 23
at H12515 (daily ed. Nov. 25, 2003) (adopting by reference
the House report statement on EPA fees). So, in 2004, the
Judicial Conference increased PACER fees from $0.07 per
page to $0.08 per page to cover the cost of implementing
and maintaining CM/ECF nationwide. J.A. 2598 (EPA Fee
Schedule Change Memorandum).
Eventually, the judiciary found itself with a surplus in
EPA fees and informed Congress that it planned to expand
its use of those funds beyond PACER and CM/ECF to other
“public access initiatives.” J.A. 3090 (FY 2007 Financial
Plan); see Summary Judgment Opinion, 291 F. Supp. 3d
at 134. In addition to submitting annual budget requests
to Congress for judiciary appropriations, the AO also annu-
ally submits its “Financial Plans” for each fiscal year. 13
See, e.g., J.A. 3090–98 (Financial Plan excerpts); ECF
No. 81.1 14 (2d Skidgel Decl.), Tabs 1–13 (budget request
and Financial Plan excerpts). The House and Senate ap-
propriations committees, or members of their staffs, typi-
cally respond to the Financial Plans by letter or email
conveying the committee’s approval and/or concerns.
Beginning in fiscal year 2007, the AO’s Financial Plans
indicated that the judiciary would use EPA fees to fund
various projects and programs beyond PACER and
CM/ECF. See J.A. 3090; Summary Judgment Opinion,
291 F. Supp. 3d at 135–36. Over the years, the AO dis-
closed its plans to use EPA fees for each of the expenditure
13 Annual appropriations legislation generally re-
quires the AO to submit these plans. See, e.g., Judiciary
Appropriations Act, 2010, Pub. L. 111-117, § 304,
123 Stat. 3034, 3177 (2009) (“Within 90 days after the date
of the enactment of this Act, the [AO] shall submit to the
Committees on Appropriations a comprehensive financial
plan for the Judiciary . . . .”).
14 Citations to “ECF No.” are to the district court
docket, No. 16-cv-0745 (D.D.C.).
Case: 19-1081 Document: 95 Page: 24 Filed: 08/06/2020
24 NVLSP v. UNITED STATES
categories contested in this appeal. J.A. 3090–98. None of
the appropriations committee responses contained in the
record voiced any objection to the broadened spending of
the judiciary’s EPA income on these items. J.A. 2946 (Sen-
ate Committee on Appropriations FY 2007 Letter);
ECF 81.1, Tabs 14–27.
The judiciary’s formal congressional budget requests
for the relevant period reported both past and anticipated
EPA spending, noting that the EPA program is “funded en-
tirely through user fees.” J.A. 2012. These budget requests
reflect use of EPA funds for CM/ECF, EBN, Courtroom
Technology, the Mississippi Study, Web-Based Juror Ser-
vices, and VCCA Notification. J.A. 813, 1372, 1375, 1690,
2014, 2351 (Utilization of EPA Receipts for FY 2009–2015).
And each year, Congress passed judicial appropriations
legislation that neither appropriated taxpayer dollars for
these programs nor expressed opposition to the judiciary’s
EPA fee spending.
In 2009 and 2010, Senator Lieberman did individually
express concerns both to the Judicial Conference and to the
Senate Committee on Appropriations about PACER fees
exceeding the cost of disseminating documents via PACER.
J.A. 2622, 2627. But in 2011, the Judicial Conference
again raised PACER fees from $0.08 to $0.10 per page, the
rate at which it currently stands. REPORT OF THE
PROCEEDINGS OF THE JUDICIAL CONFERENCE OF THE UNITED
STATES 16 (Sept. 13, 2011); ECF No. 73.2 (Skidgel Decl.,
Ex. N).
From this legislative history, the parties draw opposing
conclusions. According to plaintiffs, Congress passed the
E-Government Act to halt the judiciary’s use of PACER
fees for all non-PACER expenses. True, the Senate report
regarding the passage of the E-Government Act stated that
its amendment of § 1913 Note reflected a desire to move
the judiciary toward providing more free access to court
records; and the only cited example of overcharging was
Case: 19-1081 Document: 95 Page: 25 Filed: 08/06/2020
NVLSP v. UNITED STATES 25
PACER. S. REP. NO. 107-174, at 23 (stating that PACER
users were being “charged fees that are higher than the
marginal cost of disseminating the information”). And we
acknowledge that the E-Government Act’s sponsor, Sena-
tor Lieberman (who supports plaintiffs as an amicus here),
has previously expressed the view that the Act limited the
use of PACER fees to the direct costs of PACER. J.A. 2622,
2627. But “the views of a single legislator, even a bill’s
sponsor, are not controlling.” Mims v. Arrow Fin. Servs.,
LLC, 565 U.S. 368, 385 (2012). 15
The district court correctly rejected reading the E-Gov-
ernment Act’s amendment as injecting a PACER-only lim-
itation onto the fees authorized in § 1913 Note. See
Summary Judgment Opinion, 291 F. Supp. 3d at 141–42.
The statute’s text makes no mention of PACER, and—to
the extent a committee’s description of legislative intent
can supply that missing limitation—the Senate Govern-
mental Affairs Committee’s mention of PACER as one trou-
bling source of overcharging does not mean that the
Committee meant for the amendment to limit PACER fees
to PACER costs. Rather, both the literal amendment and
the Committee’s explanation for it support our view that
the limited change worked by § 205(e)—replacing “shall
hereafter” with “may, only to the extent necessary”—
merely reflects a shift away from mandatory electronic ac-
cess fees. Thus, plaintiffs fail to persuade us that the
E-Government Act amendment means that PACER fees
cannot be used to cover CM/ECF and EBN operating costs,
as the district court held they could.
15 We also note that in his brief Senator Lieberman
expressly “takes no position on whether, as the district
court held, PACER and CM/ECF are so inextricably con-
nected that PACER fees may permissibly be used to sup-
port the costs of CM/ECF and [EBN].” Amicus Br. of
Sen. Lieberman 11 n.4.
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26 NVLSP v. UNITED STATES
On the other side, the government focuses on the post-
amendment congressional budgetary actions and commu-
nications as demonstrating the propriety—and indeed ne-
cessity—of setting EPA fees high enough to cover all the
EPA programs and projects contested in this litigation.
But the district court properly rejected this reading, too.
See Summary Judgment Opinion, 291 F. Supp. 3d at 144.
According to the government, Congress’s continued
passage of appropriations legislation that did not allocate
funds for EPA programs—despite the judiciary reporting
its financing of these programs—demonstrate its silent rat-
ification of the judiciary’s present EPA financing arrange-
ment. Government’s Opening Br. 28–29. The government
apparently interprets “only to the extent necessary” as
meaning to the extent Congress does not appropriate tax-
payer dollars to cover EPA programs. See Government’s
Reply Br. 16–17. We disagree. Although in certain circum-
stances subsequent appropriations acts may impliedly re-
peal a pre-existing statutory obligation to pay, see Me.
Cmty. Health Options v. United States, 140 S. Ct. 1308,
1325–26 (2020); Belknap v. United States, 150 U.S. 588,
592–97 (1893), that logic does not extend to cases like this
where Congress has never obligated the government to pay
anything in the first place. We decline to hold that Con-
gress’s failure to appropriate funds for EPA programs im-
parts any new meaning onto the text of § 1913 Note.
The government’s corollary argument based on the ap-
propriations committees’ annual letters and emails approv-
ing the AO’s Financial Plans fares no better. As the district
court observed, these communications largely consisted of
pro forma, cursory statements of approval or “no objection”
to each submitted Financial Plan in its entirety. See Sum-
mary Judgment Opinion, 291 F. Supp. 3d at 144–45;
ECF 81.1, Tabs 14–27. And these appropriations commit-
tee responses cannot be taken as expressing the will of Con-
gress as a whole. We will not so lightly abdicate to
Congress, or its substituent bodies, the exclusively judicial
Case: 19-1081 Document: 95 Page: 27 Filed: 08/06/2020
NVLSP v. UNITED STATES 27
power “to say what the law is.” Marbury v. Madison,
5 U.S. (1 Cranch) 137, 177 (1803).
Instead, the statutory text and this historical back-
ground confirm the district court’s understanding of § 1913
Note as limiting EPA fees to providing public access to fed-
eral electronic docketing information—and properly cover-
ing costs associated only with operating PACER, CM/ECF,
and EBN.
First, the overwhelming thrust of the above-cited con-
ference and committee reports is that EPA fees were in-
tended to be spent on creating and increasing access to the
federal judiciary’s electronic court records and docketing
information. See supra pp. 19–21 (detailing conference and
committee reports authorizing “an experimental program
of electronic access for the public to court information,”
1988 JUD. CONF. REP. at 83 (emphasis added), and “reason-
able fees for public access to case information,” S. REP.
NO. 101-515, at 86 (emphasis added); urging the judiciary
to make court records available electronically for a fee,
H.R. REP. NO. 102-709, at 58; and highlighting “electronic
case documents, electronic filings, . . . and electronic bank-
ruptcy noticing,” H.R. REP. NO. 104-676, at 89). Moreover,
the E-Government Act specifically required the judiciary to
explore “post[ing] online dockets with links” to all filings
and decisions, see § 205(d), 116 Stat. at 2915; and the sec-
tion amending § 1913 Note refers to “[p]roviding [e]lec-
tronic [d]ocketing [i]nformation” in its title, see § 205(e),
116 Stat. at 2915. Congress expressly contemplated
PACER, CM/ECF, and EBN as it urged the judiciary to ex-
pand electronic access to the courts in the late 1990s and
early 2000s. The district court properly construed § 1913
Note as authorizing the judiciary to set PACER fees high
enough to cover these services providing access to federal
electronic docketing information.
Second, this background confirms that the access being
provided through the aid of EPA fees authorized by § 1913
Case: 19-1081 Document: 95 Page: 28 Filed: 08/06/2020
28 NVLSP v. UNITED STATES
Note must be public access. See supra pp. 19–21 (describ-
ing conference and committee reports, including reports
authorizing “an experimental program of electronic access
for the public to court information,” 1988 JUD. CONF. REP.
at 83 (emphasis added), and “reasonable fees for public ac-
cess to case information” S. REP. NO. 101-515, at 86 (em-
phasis added); and supporting efforts to “improve and
expand information available in electronic form to the pub-
lic” and urging use of EPA fees to make more information
electronically available “to the public,” H.R. REP.
NO. 104-676, at 89 (emphasis added)). The E-Government
Act overall required use of “Internet-based information
technology to enhance citizen access to Government infor-
mation and services.” 116 Stat. at 2899 (title) (emphasis
added). And the second sentence of paragraph (a) of § 1913
Note specifically permits distinguishing among classes of
users “to promote public access.” Thus, we agree that the
fees authorized under § 1913 Note cannot be used to pro-
mote access purely for select entities or individuals.
C
Principles of constitutional avoidance further support
identifying the above two limitations in § 1913 Note’s EPA
fee authorization. But such principles do not lead as far as
plaintiffs would have us take them—i.e., to prohibit using
EPA fees for CM/ECF and EBN operations.
As their final argument, plaintiffs urge that § 1913
Note must be read narrowly—to authorize PACER fees to
cover only PACER costs—in order to avoid two areas of
substantial constitutional doubt: (1) that excessive PACER
fees may infringe the First Amendment right of access to
courts, and (2) that in § 1913 Note, Congress may have un-
constitutionally delegated its taxation authority by impos-
ing user fees that go beyond the cost of providing the
service for which the fees are charged, see Skinner v. Mid–
Am. Pipeline Co., 490 U.S. 212, 224 (1989) (requiring clear
indication of intent to delegate this power).
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NVLSP v. UNITED STATES 29
We agree with plaintiffs and amici that the First
Amendment stakes here are high. See generally Br. of
Amici American Civil Liberties Union et al. (discussing the
First Amendment right of access to judicial proceedings
and records, including via PACER). If large swaths of the
public cannot afford the fees required to access court rec-
ords, it will diminish the public’s ability “to participate in
and serve as a check upon the judicial process—an essen-
tial component in our structure of self-government.” Globe
Newspaper Co. v. Superior Court for Norfolk Cty.,
457 U.S. 596, 606 (1982). Such concerns bolster our rejec-
tion of the government’s more sweeping interpretation of
§ 1913 Note as permitting EPA fees high enough to cover
all electronic access to court information. But we do not
foresee the district court’s middle-ground interpretation
permitting EPA fees to be used for PACER, CM/ECF, and
EBN as resulting in a level of user fees that will signifi-
cantly impede public access to courts. 16 As for the nondele-
gation concern, we agree with the district court that both
the text and legislative history of § 1913 Note demonstrate
that Congress adequately authorized the use of EPA fees
for more than just operating PACER. See Summary Judg-
ment Opinion, 291 F. Supp. 3d at 142–43.
We therefore hold that § 1913 Note limits PACER fees
to the amount needed to cover expenses incurred in ser-
vices providing public access to federal court electronic
docketing information.
V
Applying this interpretation to the contested projects
and programs for which EPA fees were used from 2010 to
16 As to those amici urging the elimination of all fees
for accessing electronically available court records, we
agree with the government that those calls are better di-
rected to Congress.
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30 NVLSP v. UNITED STATES
2016, we agree with the district court’s determination that
the government is liable for the amount of EPA fees used
to cover the Mississippi Study, VCCA Notifications, E-Ju-
ror Services, and most Courtroom Technology expenses.
The Mississippi Study unquestionably pertained to in-
creasing public access to state court documents, not to fed-
eral court docketing information. See Government’s
Opening Br. 27 (describing the Study as “allow[ing] the
State to provide the public with electronic access to its doc-
uments” (emphasis added)). Although the Study was un-
dertaken at the behest of the Senate Committee on
Appropriations, see J.A. 3154; S. REP. NO. 109-293, at 176
(2006) (urging the judiciary to study the feasibility of shar-
ing CM/ECF technology at the state level), the Study was
not an effort to increase access to federal court case infor-
mation.
Funding the VCCA Notification system through EPA
fees was impermissible for a different reason: it only pro-
vides access to federal court case information for local law
enforcement officers, not for the general public. Though
the VCCA Notification system may benefit the public by
providing police speedier electronic notifications than
awaiting mailed court documents, it does not provide pub-
lic access.
Using EPA fees to fund E-Juror services and most of
the Courtroom Technology category was impermissible for
yet another reason: they do not provide access to electronic
docketing information. E-Juror provides prospective jurors
with electronic copies of documents regarding their jury
service, Summary Judgment Opinion, 291 F. Supp. 3d
at 150; it does not provide access to case-specific filings or
other material appearing in a case docket. Likewise,
Courtroom Technology funds largely go toward improving
the courtroom experience—providing electronic presenta-
tions of evidence on flat-screen TVs, for instance—in ways
unrelated to providing access to electronic information
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NVLSP v. UNITED STATES 31
stored in courts’ CM/ECF docketing system. We do, how-
ever, agree with the one Courtroom Technology exception
identified by the district court: that EPA fees can be used
to cover expenses related to courtroom “digital audio equip-
ment” used to create digital audio recordings of court pro-
ceedings because these recordings are electronic court
records stored in CM/ECF and made publicly accessible for
download via PACER. See Summary Judgment Opinion,
291 F. Supp. 3d at 150.
Finally, there is one other potential source of liability
not scrutinized by the district court: CM/ECF expendi-
tures. Based on the limited record before us in this inter-
locutory appeal, it is impossible for us to decide whether all
the costs of maintaining CM/ECF could permissibly be cov-
ered by EPA fees—that is, whether those expenses were
incurred in providing public access to federal court elec-
tronic docketing information. At oral argument, plaintiffs
suggested that we leave it open to the district court on re-
mand to decide—with the benefit of further argument and
discovery—what portion of expenses in the CM/ECF
“bucket” could be paid with EPA fees. Oral Arg.
at 11:42–14:00, http://oralarguments.cafc.uscourts.gov/de-
fault.aspx?fl=2019-1081.mp3. But the reason the district
court did not scrutinize the CM/ECF line item was that
plaintiffs themselves did not request a “closer examina-
tion” of the expenditures within the CM/ECF category until
after the summary judgment motions hearing. Summary
Judgment Opinion, 291 F. Supp. 3d at 148 n.25. In light of
this apparent forfeiture, on remand, we leave it to the dis-
trict court’s discretion whether to permit additional argu-
ment and discovery regarding the nature of the expenses
within the CM/ECF category and whether EPA fees could
pay for all of them.
VI
We have considered the parties’ remaining arguments
and find them unpersuasive. We affirm the district court’s
Case: 19-1081 Document: 95 Page: 32 Filed: 08/06/2020
32 NVLSP v. UNITED STATES
statutory interpretation of § 1913 Note. The case is re-
manded to the district court for further proceedings con-
sistent with this opinion.
AFFIRMED AND REMANDED
No costs.