More on the debate over legal materials in the public domain. John W. Bagby@Penn State - - The original note follows - - Date: Wed, 25 Sep 1996 10:27:17 -0400 To: From: Subject: Clinton puts 7,000+ Supreme Court decisions on Web from FLITE >Date: Tue, 24 Sep 1996 18:31:28 -0400 (EDT) >Errors-To: [log in to unmask] >Reply-To: [log in to unmask] >Originator: [log in to unmask] >Sender: [log in to unmask] >X-PH: V4.1@r02n08 >From: James Love <[log in to unmask]> >To: Multiple recipients of list <[log in to unmask]> >Subject: Clinton puts 7,000+ Supreme Court decisions on Web from FLITE >X-Listprocessor-Version: 6.0c -- ListProcessor by Anastasios Kotsikonas > >----------------------------------------------------------------- >INFO-POLICY-NOTES / newsletter available from [log in to unmask] >----------------------------------------------------------------- >INFORMATION POLICY NOTES >September 24, 1996 > >- Today the Clinton Administration published 7,000+ Older U.S. > Supreme Court Decisions on the Web, after a long dispute > over public access to Air Force FLITE database of legal > information. FLITE is the nation's oldest computer > assisted legal research program, which began in 1963, > and is still in operation. Until today, no court > cases from FLITE had been available to the public. > >- The action places all U.S. Supreme Court Decisions from > 1937 to 1975 on the Web. These include decisions from > volumes 300 through 422 of U.S. Reports (the Official > federal government reporter of U.S. Supreme Court > Decisions). > >- The cases are now available from Fedworld, at > http://www.fedworld.gov/supcourt/index.htm, > and can be searched by keyword or by names of parties. > The Government Printing Office (GPO) will soon have the > opinions available on GPO Access. We assume that > anyone can obtain the entire database. (As is required > under the Paperwork Reduction Act.) > >- The battle over public access to court opinions now > shifts to newer opinions from the Supreme Court, and > lower court opinions. > >- "Slip" opinions from the Supreme Court from 1990 are > generally available on the Web. The Cornell site is: > http://www.law.cornell.edu/supct/ > >- The U.S. Supreme Court has printing tapes of most U.S. > Supreme Court opinions published since the late 1970s. > These tapes could be converted into HTML documents for > publishing on the Web, but the Supreme Court still > refuses to release them to the public. This is a benefit > mainly to West Publishing, the large legal > publishing firm that asserts a monopoly on citations > and the text of corrected court opinions from lower > federal courts. West is an active supporter of many > favorite court charities, and until recently, spent > large sums on lavish vacations for several members of > the Supreme Court.for background. See for example: > >http://www.essential.org/listproc/info-policy-notes/0038.html >http://www.essential.org/listproc/info-policy-notes/0142.html >http://www.startribune.com/westpub/ > >- The Clinton Administration has yet to release a huge > collection of lower court decisions and more recent > Supreme Court decisions from Air Force FLITE database. > The refusal is due in part to controversial assertions > of copyright to the text of corrected court opinions by > West. These copyright assertions did not come > into play in the pre-1974 opinions, which were based > upon the government's own reporter of court decisions. > >- White House Aide Tom Kalil, an active supporter of > better public access to government information, played > important role in persuading the Clinton Administration > to release these important records. The press release > announcing the release of the records was signed by > Sally Katzen Administrator of OMB's Office of > Information and Regulatory Affairs. We have been > asking Katzen to do something about this for the past > four years. The Air Force had been reluctant to release > the opinions, for fear that West would cause the funding > for FLITE to be eliminated, based upon West's impressive > political influence. See West campagin contributions at: > http://www.essential.org/cpt/legalinfo/westcontrib.html > > James Love, CPT & TAP > 202-387-8030, [log in to unmask] > > >The Katzen press release is attached. > >Background on the access dispute for FLITE is found in: > >http://www.essential.org/listproc/info-policy-notes/0185.html >http://www.essential.org/listproc/info-policy-notes/0221.html > > >More general background on dispute over legal information is at: > >http://www.essential.org/cpt/legalinfo/legalinfo.html > > >The OMB release follows: > >------------------------------------------------------------ >Date: Tue, 24 Sep 1996 16:09:52 -0400 (EDT) >From: "Peter N. Weiss (202) 395-3630" <[log in to unmask]> >Subject: FLITE materials now available on-line > > HISTORIC FILE OF SUPREME COURT DECISIONS AVAILABLE ON-LINE > > I am pleased to announce that the U.S. Air Force has agreed >to release a historic file of Supreme Court decisions from its >FLITE ("Federal Legal Information Through Electronics") system. >The file consists of over 7000 Supreme Court opinions dating from >1937 through 1975, from volumes 300 through 422 of U.S. Reports. > > The decisions can be accessed on the National Technical >Information Service's FedWorld system (http://www.fedworld.gov) >and will soon be available on the Government Printing Office's >GPO Access system (http://www.access.gpo.gov). > > This file had previously been determined to be exempt from >release under the Freedom of Information Act by the U.S. District >Court for the Northern District of California. That decision was >not appealed. Nonetheless, the Air Force has agreed as a matter >of discretion to release these materials. > > >Sally Katzen >Administrator >Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs >Office of Management and Budget > >September 25, 1996 > >+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ >INFORMATION POLICY NOTES is a free Internet newsletter sponsored >by the Taxpayer Assets Project (TAP) and the Consumer Project on >Technology (CPT). Both groups are projects of the Center for >Study of Responsive Law, which is run by Ralph Nader. The >LISTPROC services are provide by Essential Information. Archives >of INFO-POLICY-NOTES are available from > >http://www.essential.org/listproc/info-policy-notes/ > >TAP and CPT both have Internet Web pages. > >http://www.tap.org >http://www.essential.org/cpt > >Subscription requests to info-policy-notes to [log in to unmask] with >the message: subscribe info-policy-notes your name > >TAP and CPT can both be reached off the net at P.O. Box 19367, >Washington, DC 20036, Voice: 202/387-8030; Fax: 202/234-5176 >+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ > > >