Public Access to Court Electronic Records

Public Access to Court Electronic Records (PACER) is an electronic public access service that allows users to obtain case and docket information from federal appellate, district and bankruptcy courts, and the PACER Case Locator via the internet. PACER is provided by the federal Judiciary in keeping with its commitment to providing public access to court information via a centralized service.

Please note, that pursuant to FRCvP Rule 5.2(c), there are limitations on remote access to electronic files in Social-Security Appeals and Immigration Cases.  Additionally, documents restricted or sealed by court order are also not publicly available.

In order to access court records via PACER you must have a PACER account.  For PACER access, online registration, and information regarding current PACER fees, please click here. 

Consistent with Judicial Conference policy, courts may, upon a showing of good cause, exempt indigents, bankruptcy case trustees, individual researchers associated with educational institutions, courts, section 501(c)(3) not for profit organizations, and court appointed pro bono attorneys from payment of PACER fees. Exemptions may be granted for a definite period of time and may be revoked at the discretion of the court granting the exemption.

Attorneys are automatically exempt from payment of electronic public access fees for work on CJA cases. You may contact the PACER service center at 1-800-676-6856 or through the internet at https://pacer.uscourts.gov/ to establish an exempt account, which may only be used for work related to services rendered under the CJA.

Free Access to Court Electronic Records

Court electronic records related to cases filed in the Eastern District of Wisconsin are viewable free of charge in the Clerk's Office during normal business hours.  There is a fee for the printing of documents or dockets. Fees for printing documents or dockets can be viewed here.

Access to Non-Electronic Court Records

The Clerk's Office maintains copies of all criminal and civil dockets, criminal judgments, and closing orders in civil cases for cases filed prior to electronic filing.  In general, both dockets and documents are available electronically from 2005 forward. 

For cases prior to 2005:

To obtain location, accession and box number information for records maintained at the Federal Records Center, please contact the Clerk's Office at 414-297-3372 .