Commencing November 1, 2004, all documents in criminal cases, except sealed matters and other documents restricted from the public, will be scanned and made available to the public via PACER remote electronic access subscription.

The Court has recently entered General Order 2004-11 amending General Order 2003-4 regarding Protecting Personal Privacy in Public Case Files. A copy of General Order 2004-11 can be obtained at this link.

General Order 2004-11 expands the provisions of General Order 2003-4 with the following:

• An additional personal identifier that parties should be careful to redact from their pleadings; i.e., home addresses to only the city and state;
• An admonition to exercise caution and to consider the necessity to seal documents that implicate personal privacy and security;
• An alternative option to file a reference list under seal in lieu of filing an unredacted version of the document under seal; and
• A list of documents that will not be available to the public at the courthouse or via remote electronic access

The responsibility for redacting personal identifiers and properly filing documents to be sealed rests solely with counsel and the parties. The Clerk will not review each pleading for compliance with the rule.