To run a federal case search by name, log in to PACER and use the PACER Case Locator at pcl.uscourts.gov, which searches civil, criminal, and bankruptcy filings from every federal appellate, district, and bankruptcy court in a single query. You need an account, but casual use is often free, and there are workable alternatives if you’d rather not register or pay at all.
Running the Search in the PACER Case Locator
Register at pacer.uscourts.gov. Anyone can sign up, and the system asks for identifying and payment information during setup.1PACER. Register for an Account The same login works for the national Case Locator and for every individual court’s electronic filing system.
Once you’re in, open the Case Locator, select the party name search tab, and enter the last name and first name. Results include the case title, the court that handled it, and the date of the most recent filing activity. Clicking a case number opens the docket sheet, a chronological log of every filing, motion, and order, from which you can view or download individual documents as PDFs.
Common names return a lot of noise. A search for “James Smith” will surface hundreds or thousands of matches across the country. Narrowing by date range is the fastest cleanup; filtering by case type (civil, criminal, or bankruptcy) or by court helps too when you have any geographic clue.
One quirk worth knowing: the national Case Locator index updates daily, not in real time.2PACER. Find a Case A case filed this morning may not appear nationwide until tomorrow.
What It Costs
PACER charges $0.10 per page for documents and search results, capped at $3.00 per individual document.3PACER. PACER Pricing: How Fees Work If your total charges stay at $30 or less in a quarterly billing cycle, the fees are waived. That threshold covers a fair amount of casual searching, so a one-time name lookup often costs nothing. Invoices arrive only when you exceed $30.
Each document you open on a docket adds to your page count, so scan the docket entries first and pull only what you actually need.
Courts can grant fee exemptions on a case-by-case basis, typically for pro se litigants or indigent individuals who show the exemption is necessary to avoid an unreasonable burden.4PACER. Options to Access Records if You Cannot Afford PACER Fees There is no centralized application; you contact each court directly, and procedures vary. Government agencies pay the same fees as everyone else.5PACER. Can I Get a PACER Fee Exemption for My Research?
Searching a Single Court Directly
When you already know which district handled a case, skip the national index. Each federal court runs its own CM/ECF (Case Management/Electronic Case Files) system, and local systems reflect filings immediately rather than on the daily delay.2PACER. Find a Case Your PACER login works on any court’s site.
If you’re not sure which court covers a particular city or county, the federal court finder at uscourts.gov looks up the correct district by location. There are 94 federal judicial districts, and some states have several (Northern, Southern, Eastern, Western), so the right one matters.6PACER. File a Case From the court’s site, use the query or name search function. Results are limited to that court, which makes them much easier to sort.
Free Ways to Search
The RECAP Archive, run by the nonprofit Free Law Project, is worth checking before you spend anything. It contains tens of millions of PACER documents uploaded by other users, including every free opinion in the PACER system, and the full archive is searchable.7Free Law Project. RECAP Suite – Turning PACER Around Since 2009 Search it through CourtListener at courtlistener.com without any PACER account. Coverage is uneven for obscure cases, but high-profile litigation and frequently accessed dockets are well represented. A RECAP browser extension also flags free copies inside PACER itself as you search.
Every federal courthouse maintains a clerk’s office with public access terminals where you can browse court records without a PACER account and without per-page fees.8United States Courts. Electronic Public Access Fee Schedule This is the best option if you want to review a large volume of documents without watching charges, or if you don’t have a card for online registration. Staff can also help you locate records and read filing status.
What Won’t Show Up in the Results
An empty result doesn’t mean a person has no federal record. Several categories of filings are kept out of public view by design.
Sealed Cases and Documents
Federal judges can seal entire cases or individual filings. Common reasons include protecting cooperating witnesses, safeguarding ongoing criminal investigations, shielding classified national security information, and preventing disclosure of trade secrets.9United States Courts. Accessing Court Documents – Journalists Guide In civil litigation, protective orders during discovery can shield information that would cause embarrassment or undue burden. Some categories are routinely kept from public view regardless: pretrial bail reports, presentence reports, juvenile records, and documents containing juror information.
Redacted Personal Details
Even in fully public cases, certain identifiers are stripped before filings become available. Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 5.2 requires parties to redact Social Security and taxpayer identification numbers to the last four digits, financial account numbers to the last four digits, birth dates to the year, and to refer to minor children by initials only.10Legal Information Institute. Rule 5.2 Privacy Protection For Filings Made with the Court Redaction is the filer’s responsibility, not the clerk’s. If someone files their own unredacted information without sealing it, they waive the protection for that information. Courts can order further redactions when circumstances call for it.
Expunged Cases
Cases expunged by court order are removed from public records and won’t appear in a PACER search. Some dismissed cases may also be difficult to locate depending on how the court handled the records.
Older Federal Court Records
PACER’s electronic records don’t reach back indefinitely, and cases predating a court’s move to electronic filing may not appear at all. As a general rule, federal court records older than about 15 years are transferred from the court’s custody to the National Archives.11National Archives. National Archives Court Records For anything newer than that, start with the court where the case was filed. For older material, the National Archives catalog or the appropriate regional archives facility is the right starting point. Expect paper or microfilm rather than an instant electronic result.