JUST IN —

We now have the actual talking points the Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts has sent to federal judges in at least five Judicial Conference committees to use in contacting their representatives in an effort to block the Open Courts Act.

Plus, we’ve received a letter from leading technologists to the Judicial Conference saying that improvements to CM/ECF and PACER are necessary and doable and the AO’s cost estimate is bonkers.

They write: “We are confident that under no circumstance would building and implementing the new system described in the [Open Courts Act] cost $2 billion or even several hundred million dollars. We estimate the cost to be in the $10–$20 million range over 36 months to build and then $3–$5 million annually to continue to develop and maintain.”

For our earlier post on the judges’ lobbying efforts, see here.