DOJ Press Release, Reno supports public domain citation

[James Love <love@tap.org>]

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TAXPAYER ASSETS PROJECT - INFORMATION POLICY NOTE
September 8, 1994 

The following is a very important press release from the Department of 
Justice regarding an annoucement by Attorney General Janet Reno that DOJ 
will support much broader public access to federal judicial opinions, and 
will take steps to support the establishment of a public domain system of 
citation to federal caselaw.  While the press release also states that 
DOJ will continue with its plans for a computer assisted legal research 
(CALR) procurement, the annoucement is a huge victory for those who seek 
to end the West monopoly control over citations to federal caselaw.  The 
annoucement from DOJ credits the new policy initative to the large number 
of letters received from the public over this issue.  Nearly all of these 
comments were generated by messages circulated on Internet Discussion 
Lists.  Your participation in these matters does indeed make a 
difference.  Thanks to everyone who wrote letters to the Department of 
Justice or Congress on this issue.

James Love  (jamie@tap.org; 202/387-8030 or 610/658-0880).  

  The DOJ press release follows.

                     Department of Justice 


FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE                             JMD
FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 2, 1994                         (202) 616-2765
                                             TDD  (202) 514-1888


JUSTICE DEPARTMENT SEEKS IMPROVED PUBLIC ACCESS TO COURT RULINGS

     WASHINGTON, D.C. --  The Justice Department today said it
would explore ways to improve public access to federal court
opinions, especially by computer, to make legal research more
affordable for scholars, public interest groups and users of
electronic information.
     Currently, most electronic research is done by leasing
access to privately owned systems, such as WESTLAW and LEXIS,
that electronically search through data bases of federal cases
and other materials.
     Attorney General Janet Reno said that the Department had
received considerable correspondence from members of the legal
community concerned about the high cost of electronic access to
judicial opinions and the present propriety [sic] system most
often used to cite federal cases.
     Reno said the Department is evaluating various existing non-
proprietary methods of citing cases to develop a unified,
comprehensive approach acceptable to federal and state courts,
attorneys and legal researchers.  The Department is also
exploring the possibility of a public-domain data base of federal
and state judicial opinions.  Comment and suggestions from the
public are invited, and should be directed to Kent Walker,
Counsel to the Deputy Attorney General, U.S. Justice Department,
Washington, D.C. 20530.
     At the same time, the Department said it would shortly
solicit bids for a computerized legal research system for its own
lawyers.  The prospective contract would last one year, with four
annual options to renew the contract.  Because of the relatively
short contract periods, the Department expects that the
prospective contract would not delay a decision on a new public
citation system.

                             ######

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