How a Network of Volunteers Is Liberating Critical Court Records for Everyone
Volunteer project Habeas Dockets has published roughly 29,000 immigration habeas corpus filings online, circumventing a 2007 federal rule blocking electronic access.
A volunteer project called Habeas Dockets, founded by Chicago software developer John Kyle Cronan, publishes federal habeas corpus filings from immigration cases online. Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 5.2(c) makes these public records viewable only in person at courthouse kiosks, hindering attorneys, journalists, and researchers. About 400 volunteers have reviewed and uploaded roughly 29,000 documents, and the project now operates as the nonprofit Immigration Justice Transparency Initiative. It launched a year ago amid nearly 50,000 habeas petitions challenging the Trump administration's mass detention and deportation campaign.
- Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 5.2(c) restricts immigration habeas filings to in-person courthouse kiosk access only.
- About 400 volunteers redact sensitive details and upload roughly 29,000 filings; the project became a nonprofit this year.
- Nearly 50,000 habeas petitions challenge ICE detentions under the administration's mass deportation campaign.
From the original article
6 min read at 404media.co
This article was republished from our friends over at Court Watch . Please consider subscribing to them if you want the early scoop on what's happening in our court system, from the concerning to the bizarre. Madeleine O’Neill is a freelance reporter in Baltimore.
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