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General Information

In the interest of informing the public, the United States Eastern District of California welcomes media coverage of legal matters coming before the court.

In almost all cases, proceedings are open to the press and public. In certain high-profile cases, the court may reserve courtroom seating for the media. Reporters should contact the court clerk’s office at (916) 930-4042 or mediacontact@caed.uscourts.gov to determine whether reserve seating is available.

The Eastern District of California prohibits still and video cameras and audio recorders in the courtroom. Please see the court’s Rule 173, page 7.

If a case is being prosecuted by a U.S. attorney, that attorney’s office will often have a designated public relations contact who can provide up-to-date information.

The Federal Courts

There are local, state and federal court systems. They each have completely separate personnel, administration and facilities, but cases may move from one system to another depending on a variety of legal circumstances. We will only be talking about the federal court system in these pages.

The Federal Court System
The federal courts have three main levels: district courts (the trial court), circuit courts which are the first level of appeal, and the Supreme Court of the United States, the final level of appeal in the federal system. There are 94 district courts, 13 circuit courts, and one Supreme Court in the U.S.  For more information, visit the Federal Courts Website page.  

 U.S. district courts have jurisdiction to hear nearly all categories of federal cases, including both civil and criminal matters. Two territories of the United States in the NInth Circuit, Guam and the Northern Mariana Islands, have U.S. district courts that hear federal cases, including bankruptcy cases.

The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals is an appellate court that reviews the procedures and the decisions to make sure that the proceedings were fair and that the proper law was applied correctly in the trial courts within the 15 judicial districts that comprise the Ninth Circuit.

The Office of the Circuit Executive (OCE) was created by statute to provide professional administrative staffing to circuit councils. The OCE provides administrative support to the Judicial Council of the Ninth Circuit and its various committees. It also provides direct services to all 64 judicial court units in the circuit.

The Eastern District of California has five courthouses located in Bakersfield, Fresno, Redding, Sacramento and Yosemite. 

The Eastern District of California is currently authorized six judgeships. Active and senior judges hear civil and criminal cases that fall under federal law. Decisions are appealed to the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals.

Following a final appellate court ruling, parties to the case can then petition with the U.S. Supreme Court to review the ruling. At its discretion, and within the certain guidelines established by Congress, the Supreme Court may grant or deny the petition. The court hears a small percentage of cases it is asked to review each year. If the petition to review the ruling is denied, then the appellate court ruling stands. 

 

Links to Pacer Records System

Public Access to Court Electronic Records, or PACER, is the judiciary’s electronic method of providing access to court dockets and to copies of documents filed with the court. You may register for PACER online. There is no registration fee but there is an established user fee to be collected for access to PACER; however, if usage in a quarter is $30 or less, PACER fees are waived. For more information on PACER fees, and circumstances in which PACER use is free, see “PACER Pricing: How fees work.”

Via PACER, you can examine the docket for a particular case, which will provide the names of all parties, the names and contact information for the attorneys of record and an itemization of every document filed in the case by name, filer and date. Case documents are accessible from the docket via hyperlinks.

PACER provides online access to dockets (case information) for a fee of $0.10 per page, though the first $30 of charges per quarter per user are waived. Register here.

 

How to register for alerts via CM/ECF

Journalists and interested members of the public can register for Special Mailing Group (SMG) accounts within the court's electronic filing system to be kept abreast of developments in a case.

Once you have a CM/ECF account, you can sign up for Notices of Electronic Filing (“NEFs”) in particular cases. Learn how to sign up for NEFs.

Once you have registered for NEFs in a particular case, you will receive notification via email that a document is available to be viewed electronically via PACER.

NEFs will tell you:

• Who filed the document
• Who was served with electronic (email) notice of the filing electronically
• Date and time of filing
• Document(s) title(s)
• Docket text associated with the document(s)
• On which party’s behalf the document was submitted
• A hyperlink to open an Adobe PDF copy of the document. (If you open the hyperlink, you will be prompted to log into PACER to view/download the document.)

 

Frequently asked questions 

Here are answers to a few of the oft-asked questions from media representatives

 

• Does Judge X have any comment on Case X or available for an interview? 

  “In keeping with ethics rules, federal judges do not grant interviews about active cases. Judges “speak” through comments made in open court or through written decisions. Reporters must rely on the official case proceedings as their primary information source.” (Federal Court: Media Basics – Journalist’s Guide https://www.uscourts.gov/statistics-reports/federal-court-media-basics-journalists-guide)

  Reporters can email mediacontact@caed.uscourts.gov for other questions. Please include your deadline and allow 1-2 business days for a response.

• Can you explain Judge X’s ruling to me and what it means?

  It is essential for reporters to understand and be able to translate legal jargon and procedures for readers or viewers. Please find a glossary at https://www.ca9.uscourts.gov/general/glossary/. If in doubt, please send an email to mediacontact@caed.uscourts.gov.  

• When is the next hearing in Case X?

  If the case is not already listed on the Eastern District of California website under “Calendar” or Cases of Interest, register for a CM/ECF account as a “Public Interested Person.” Once your registration has been processed, log in and click Utilities in the menu and select Notice for Cases of Interest. Complete the fields and add case(s) by case number. You can only select one email address to use for the notices (the one specified during registration or a different one). When you have saved your settings, you will start receiving notices of docket activity for all transactions entered in the case(s). Note that you will be charged for viewing the document(s) you access from the notices of docket activity, according to existing PACER rules.

• Can I attend or watch an oral argument?

  Yes. Court proceedings are currently in person.

• Can I photograph or record the oral argument or courtroom?

  Generally, no. Please see the court’s Rule 173, page 7, for details.

• How do I file a motion on behalf of the media to unseal a case or document?

  Please refer to Federal Rules of Appellate Procedure (FRAP), Ninth Circuit Rule 27-13. Sealed Documents on page 99. The rules note: “Motions to unseal may be made on any grounds permitted by law.” In practice, anyone not a party to the case can only file a motion to unseal if they submit it with a motion to intervene for the purpose of filing the motion to unseal. The seeker would have to be added to the case’s docket as a proposed intervenor, something like a party to the case. http://cdn.ca9.uscourts.gov/datastore/uploads/rules/frap.pdf.

• How do I order a transcript?

  Transcripts are supplied by contacting the appropriate court reporter. The link for transcripts can be found under Attorney Info on our home page.

• Can I have a copy of the following order or document?

  If available to the public, it can be found on PACER. Opinions can be found via the Court of Appeal's website: https://www.ca9.uscourts.gov/opinions/. There are some free opinions available at https://www.govinfo.gov/app/collection/uscourts.