In a powerful example of how state courts can improve public access, the courts of Kansas opened a public website Thursday that allows press and public to see new court pleadings as they come across the virtual counter.
“Court modernization is a continuous process to improve how Kansas courts serve the people of Kansas, and the civil filing webpage is a great example,” said Chief Justice Marla Luckert. “People who watch for new civil cases can use it even while the filings are waiting to be processed by the court clerk.”
The tradition of open courts was strong throughout the Midwest in the days of paper filing. In both state and federal courts, journalists checked a box on the counter that held the new controversies coming into the courthouse for resolution. The box held news.
In the appellate court that covers a huge swath of the American heartland, Eighth Circuit Judge Bobby Shepherd described the tradition from his chair on the court’s bench: “There was a time when — and some in this room may remember it — when you took a pleading to the courthouse and the clerk stamped it physically and it went into different bins and it was available immediately.”
The Kansas courts have moved swiftly and decisively in favor of public access after adopting electronic filing. They opened a public portal on Thursday that is easy to use and allows journalists, members of the public, and attorneys to see new public pleadings as they come electronically into the courthouse.
The Kansas court administrator, Stephanie Smith, and her staff were instrumental in putting the portal into effect and making sure it works smoothly to provide access as new cases are received. Their initiative has been accompanied by other courts in the region.
Missouri courts are currently in the process of moving to a public, auto acceptance system — similar to the software used by federal courts — that pushes new pleadings into the public docket as they are received.
Iowa and South Dakota have also opened up their court filings to public access without the delays tied to the processing of new filings, clerical work that takes time and damages the news in the new pleadings.
In leading the Kansas courts, Chief Justice Luckert has moved to improve public access while also raising an alarm about the ongoing and increasing effects of income disparity on the court’s role in achieving justice.
“The stark reality is that we have a justice gap in Kansas and across the country — a growing divide between people with the means to access basic legal services and people who need those services but cannot afford them,” said the chief justice in her State of the Judiciary address earlier this year.
“When I think of this gap, I see the faces of real people in my courtroom when I was a trial judge. The young mother with small children whose spouse moved them to Kansas for a job and then abandoned them, leaving her with no money, no food, no car, no pride, and no support in a community of strangers. The grizzled combat vet overwhelmed by medical debt from his wife’s last illness.”
Before outlining a series of initiatives to help those who need help in dealing with the courts, she said, “Complacency cannot be our approach. We must all put on our hero capes and work together to find solutions.”