A Federal Circuit panel pressed a Justice Department attorney on how the U.S. government spends fees it collects through its electronic federal court record system during argument in a case over whether the charges are too high.
Three nonprofits are arguing in the case before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit that fees the Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts charges for the Public Access to Court Records (PACER) violate federal law because they’re higher than what’s needed to operate the system.
The government argues that the law doesn’t put such strict limits on how it uses ...