Federal judge rules Virginia’s restricted access to court records violates First Amendment
by Marie Feyche | U. Pittsburgh School of Law, US published by Jurist.com JANUARY 16, 2022
A district court judge in Virginia on Friday found Virginia’s online civil court system violated First Amendment rights of the press and public because of the system’s restricted access to newly filed civil complaints.
The Officer of the Court Remote Access (OCRA) system makes civil filings available to attorneys through a per-court subscription fee. Authorized users can access filings from the courts they are subscribed to. The public and news outlets cannot use OCRA. Instead, non-attorneys need to physically go to the courts to access the documents. Approximately 90 of the 120 courts in Virginia use OCRA.
Courthouse News Services (CNS) filed the lawsuit against Karl R. Hade, executive secretary of the Supreme Court of Virginia, and Jacqueline C. Smith, clerk of the Circuit Court for Prince William County, VA. In the lawsuit, CNS asserted that Hade and Smith have power to grant the public and news outlets digital access to civil complaints and that withholding this access violates the First Amendment.
