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Modified Filing Procedures Address Security Concerns

The federal Judiciary is responding to the recent disclosure of wide-spread cybersecurity breaches of government computer systems with new security procedures to protect highly sensitive confidential documents. New procedures will not change current policies regarding public access to court records.

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Frequently Asked Questions

Are transcripts of court proceedings available on PACER?

When transcripts of court proceedings are produced, they are added to PACER 90 days later. Before a transcript is added to PACER, a copy is available in the clerk’s office for inspection only. Information on purchasing a transcript from the court reporter or transcriber within the 90-day can be provided by the clerk’s office. There is no maximum fee for transcripts in PACER. 

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The PACER Case Locator is a national case locator index for all federal court records in district, bankruptcy, and appellate courts. Every 24 hours, typically nightly, the PACER Case Locator is updated with new case information.

Log in to the PACER Case Locator. If you are a registered PACER user, you automatically have access to the PACER Case Locator with your username and password.

A search will return the party name, the court where the case is filed, the case number, date filed, and date closed. You can access more detailed case information stored within CM/ECF from the case number in the PACER Case Locator.  

Look for a few of these common problems:

  • If you have a legacy PACER account, your username should be entered in lowercase letters followed by four numbers. If you have an upgraded PACER account, enter the username you selected that is 8 or more characters long.
  • Make sure the proper username and password are being used for the proper database. If you have a legacy PACER account: PACER login for querying documents and CM/ECF login for filing.
  • Confirm you are using the live database. The training database is located at: https://ecf-train.COURT.uscourts.gov, while the live database is at: https://ecf.COURT.uscourts.gov (without the train), where COURT is the code for the particular court. Typically, appellate courts do not have training databases.
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In district and bankruptcy courts:

Electronic access to Social Security Administration case documents is limited to parties in the case. In addition, documents from criminal cases filed prior to November 1, 2004, are only available electronically to the parties in the case. Contact the clerk's office for information about viewing copies. Criminal documents filed after November 1, 2004, are available electronically through PACER.

In appellate courts:

Viewing certain document types (social security and immigration) in an appellate CM/ECF court may be restricted.

The second login prompt is requesting your PACER username and password, which is required whenever you request a report or document from a case while logged in as an electronic filer. To avoid getting the second login prompt, you can store your PACER username and password. To do so, when you enter your PACER credentials, check the checkbox “Make this my default PACER login” on the CM/ECF login page. After checking this box, you will only need to use your CM/ECF credentials for electronic filing and for viewing documents via PACER.