The U.S. Supreme Court is launching a new case-filing system which will make briefs and other documents available to the public on the court's website, Chief Justice John Roberts announced Wednesday in his annual year-end report.
"The Supreme Court is currently developing its own electronic filing system, which may be operational as soon as 2016," Roberts wrote. "Once the system is implemented, all filings at the Court - petitions and responses to petitions, merits briefs, and all other types of motions and applications - will be available to the legal community and the public without cost on the Court's website.
"Once the system has operated effectively for some time and the Supreme Court Bar has become well acquainted with it, the Court expects that electronic filing will be the official means for all parties represented by counsel, but paper filings will still be required."
Supreme Court judges have an obligation to proceed at a slower pace than the rest of society when it comes to technological advances, Roberts said, because new systems must be properly vetted to ensure they allow the court to perform its duties fairly and efficiently, reported Reuters.
"The federal courts, including the Supreme Court, must often introduce new technologies at a more measured pace than other institutions, especially those in private industry," Roberts said. "They will sometimes seem more guarded in adopting cutting-edge innovations, and for good reason, considering some of the concerns that the judiciary must consider in deploying new technologies."
Critics have accused the court of failing to keep up with modern standard practices, and also working in a manner that is too secretive.
Other federal courts have made more than one billion documents publicly available, "spread among the 13 courts of appeals, 94 district courts, 90 bankruptcy courts, and other specialized tribunals," Roberts noted.
The court did make improvements to its website in October, but users still have to go through a third party to obtain copies of briefs, and other material such as petitions can be hard to find, The New York Times reported.
