Courthouse News challenges Georgia clerks over access

Courthouse News Service filed a First Amendment lawsuit Tuesday in U.S. District Court in Atlanta against Georgia court clerks in nine counties, including Muscogee, Forsyth and Cobb, who withhold public access to newly filed civil complaints for hours or days after filing.

The complaint argues this contradicts a long tradition, still followed by federal courts and most states, of making new pleadings public the moment they're received. Notably, the lawsuit itself became publicly viewable immediately through the federal system — the same immediacy the clerks being sued decline to offer.

The clerks cite privacy concerns, though most states put responsibility for a pleading's contents on the filer, not the clerk. Courthouse News points to a prior Eighth Circuit case against Missouri, which ended with the state adopting immediate e-filing access, as the template it wants Georgia to follow.

The full dispatch is available from the source below.