Crown Jewels Campaign
Taxpayer Assets Project/
Essential Information
June 8, 1993
(please circulate freely)
U.S. DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE JURIS SYSTEM
The Taxpayer Assets Project is gathering signatures for a letter to
Attorney General Janet Reno, asking that the Department of Justice
provide public access to JURIS, the federal government's online database
of legal information. If you are willing to support this effort, please
send your permission to the Taxpayer Assets Project at one of the
following addresses:
internet: juris@essential.org
postal: P.O. Box 19367, Washington, DC 20036
fax: 202/234-5176
Name: _______________________
Title: _______________________
Affiliation: _______________________
(for purposes of identification only)
Mailing Address: _______________________
City, St, Zip: _______________________
Email Address: _______________________
Telephone number: _______________________
The letter to Attorney General Janet Reno is given below, following a
brief description of the JURIS system.
THE PRODUCTS
JURIS contains vast amounts of federal legal information, including such
items as: published and unpublished federal court decisions, including
decisions from bankruptcy, military, tax and claims courts; the U.S.
Code, public laws, indian law, immigration and naturalization law, tax
law, the code of federal regulations, federal acquisition regulations,
federal executive orders, foreign treaties, and legislative histories;
extensive administrative law on topics such as EPA enforcement, equal
employment opportunity, government ethics, contracts, and published and
unpublished Comptroller General decisions; and Department of Justice
monographs, briefs and manuals.
ONLY GOVERNMENT EMPLOYEES NOW HAVE ACCESS
The JURIS system is run by the Justice Department on government- owned
software and computers under Executive Order 12146 (July 18, 1979).
JURIS currently provides online access to about 15,000 government
officials, but the service is not available to private citizens.
INCREMENTAL COST OF PUBLIC ACCESS IS LOW
The Justice Department charges JURIS users a flat rate of $73 per hour,
which is far less than the cost of WESTLAW or LEXIS, the two commercial
vendors who dominate the market for online legal information. But the
JURIS fee structure is designed to cover the average unit costs of the
system, including the costs of development, support, and administration.
The incremental cost of adding new users is quite low, perhaps a few
dollars per hour, since most of the budget covers the system's fixed
costs.
BARRIERS TO ACCESS
The major problem with access to JURIS concern the opposition from West
Publishing, the owner of WESTLAW, and Mead Data Central, the owner of
LEXIS. Currently WESTLAW provides digital copies of legal information
in a controversial contract which allows WESTLAW to insert copyrighted
information into the text of government decisions and laws, and exercise
copyright type restrictions on the database. Because the WESTLAW
material is included in the database, the JURIS database is not
available through the freedom of information act, and not available to
private citizens.
The Department of Justice is now rebidding the WESTLAW contract. We are
urging the Department of Justice to require the winning contractor to
provide the data in a way that does not bar public access to this
important database.
---------------------------------------------------------------
THE PROPOSED LETTER
Janet Reno
Attorney General
U.S. Department of Justice
Washington, DC 20530
Dear Ms Reno:
We are writing to urge you to take steps to provide public access to the
Department of Justice JURIS system, which is an important online
database of federal legal information.
Under a controversial contract with West Publishing, a private data
vendor now inserts copyrighted information into this database, which
consists primarily of non-copyrighted government information. The West
contract, which is currently being rebid by the Justice Department,
prevents the public from obtaining access to a very valuable online
database which is funded by the taxpayers.
The contents of the JURIS database include a vast amount of legal
information which are of interest of millions of Americans, who will
benefit from broader public access.
We urge you to direct the Department of Justice to take steps to provide
public access to the JURIS database. Citizens should be available to
search JURIS online, or on CD-ROM, at a cost which does not exceed the
incremental cost of providing public access. The Department of Justice
should also contact the Government Printing Office (GPO) to make
arrangements to provide access to JURIS through the new GPO Access
system, which will provide public online access to a wide range of
federal databases, including free access to the 1,400 member federal
Depository Library program.
Please tell us the specific steps that you will take to address this
issue.
Sincerely,
(Affiliations are for identification purposes only.)
-------------------------------------------------------------
SELECTED PORTIONS OF JURIS DATABASE (FALL 1992)
CASELAW
U.S. Supreme Court 1900 - present
Federal Reporter, 2nd Series 1934 - present
Court of Appeals Unpublished Decisions 1982 - present
Federal Supplement 1966 - present
Federal Rules Decisions 1976 - present
Atlantic 2nd Reporter (DC only) 1977 - present
Bankruptcy Reporter 1979 - present
Courts of Military Review 1951 - 1975
Military Justice Reporter 1974 - present
Court of Claims 1956 - 9/82
Claims Court 1982 - present
STATUTORY LAW
Public Laws 93rd Congress - 102nd Congress
United States Code
Executive Orders 12/31/47 - present
Anti-Drug Abuse Act of 1988
Section-by-section analysis of anti-drug abuse act of 1988
Criminal Division Handbook on CCCA
The Organic Laws of the United States
DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE BRIEFS
Office of the Solicitor General Briefs
Civil Division Briefs
Civil Division Trail Briefs
Environmental and Natural Resources Division Briefs
Environmental and Natural Resources Trial Briefs
Environmental and Natural Resources Division Briefs Index
Tax Division Criminal Appellate Briefs
U.S. Attorney's Offices Briefs
U.S. Trustees' Offices Briefs
U.S. Trustees' Offices Briefs
U.S. Trustees' Offices Trial Briefs
U.S. DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE MANUALS
United States Attorney's Manual
United States Trustees' Manual
FEDERAL MANUALS
Federal Personnel Manual
God grading standards
Federal Acquisition Regulations
Federal Acquisition Circulars
Federal Travel Regulation
Federal Information Resources Management Regulation
Federal Property Management Regulations
Principles of Federal Appropriations Law
Justice Department Acquisition Regulation
Justice Property Management Regulations
LEGISLATIVE HISTORIES OF FEDERAL LAWS
Equal Access to Justice Act (EAJA)
Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986
Sentencing Reform Sections of the Senate Report of the CCCA of 1984
ADMINISTRATIVE LAW
Published Comptroller General Decisions
Unpublished Comptroller General Decisions
Opinions of the Attorney General
Office of Legal Counsel (U.S. Dept. of Justice
Board of Contract Appeals
ADP Protest Report (Summary of ADP Procurement Protests before the GSBCA)
Federal Labor Relations Authority Case Decisions
FLRA Admin. Law Judge Decisions
Federal Service Impasses Decisions
Decisions and Reports on Rulings of the Assistant Sec. of Labor
for Labor Management Relations
Federal Labor Relations Council
Rulings on Requests of the Asst. Sec. of Labor for Labor
Management Relations
HUD Administrative Law Decisions
Merit System Protection Board Decisions
Decisions under Immigration and Nationality Laws
Environmental Protection Agency General Counsel Opinions
Equal Employment Opportunity Commission Decisions
Equal Employment Opportunity Commission Policy Statements
U.S. Office of Government Ethics Decisions
HHS Department Appeals Board Decisions
FEDERAL REGULATIONS
Code of Federal Regulations
Unified Agenda of Federal Regulations
Defense Acquisition Regulations
TREATIES AND OTHER INTERNATIONAL AGREEMENTS
United States Treaties and Other International Agreements
Department of Defense Unpublished International Agreements
FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT
FOIA Update Newsletter
DOJ Guide to the FOIA Case List Publications
IMMIGRATION AND NATURALIZATION LAW
Decisions Under Immigration and Nationality Law
Title 8 - Code of Federal Regulations
Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1988, Legislative History
Equal Access to Justice Act, Legislative History
TAX MATERIALS
US Tax Court Decisions
US Board of Tax Appeals Decisions
Tax Division's Summons Enforcement Decisions
Tax Division's Tax Protester Case List
Tax Division's Criminal Tax Manual
Tax Division's Criminal Tax Indictment/Information Forms
Tax Division's Standardized Criminal Tax Jury Instructions
Tax Division's Criminal Section Newsletter
Tax Court Memorandum Decisions
IRS Cumulative Bulletin
Tax International Acts
IRS News Releases
IRS General Counsel Memoranda
IRS Actions on Decisions
IRS Technical Memoranda
INDIAN LAW
Opinions of the Solicitor (Dept. of Int)
Ratified Treaties
Unratified Treaties
Presidential Proclamations
Executive Orders and Other Orders Pertaining to Indians
DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE WORKPRODUCTS
Civil Division Monographs
Civil Division Torts Branch Handbook on damages under FTCA
Criminal Division Monographs
Criminal Division Forms
Criminal Division Guidelines for Drafting Indictments
Criminal Division Narcotics, Forfeiture, Prosecution Manual
Criminal Division Directory of Services
Asset Forfeiture Manuals
Obscenity Enforcement Reporter
Environmental and Natural Resources Division Monographs
US Sentencing Commission's Guidelines Manual
Sentencing Guidelines Updates
----------------------------------------------------------------------
GROUPS INTERESTED IN THIS ISSUE INCLUDE: American Library Association
202/547-4440; American Association of Law Librarians 202/662-9160;
Taxpayer Assets Project 202/387-8030.
THE CROWN JEWELS CAMPAIGN
The Crown Jewels Campaign is a grass roots effort to open up access to
several of the federal government's most important information systems.
Future editions will provide updates on JURIS, as well as information
abut the SEC'S EDGAR system, the House of Representatives LEGIS system,
the CIA Foreign Broadcast Information Service (FBIS), the Patent and
Trademark Automated Patent System (APS), and others. Suggestions for
Crown Jewels targets are welcome.
The Crown Jewels Campaign is a joint effort between Essential
Information and Ralph Nader's The Taxpayer Assets Project (TAP). TAP
information policy notes, including all Crown Jewels Campaign
memorandums, are disseminated through tap-info, a *low volume* list (not
a discussion group). Send subscription requests to:
tap-info-request@essential.org
------------------------------------------------------------------
Taxpayer Assets Project, P.O. Box 19367, Washington, DC 20036;
v. 202/387-8030; f. 202/234-5176; internet: tap@essential.org
------------------------------------------------------------------
tap-info postings are archived at cspr.org. ftp: ftp.cpsr.org;
gopher: gopher.cpsr.org; wais: wais.cspr.org
To receive tap-info, send a note to tap-info-request@essential.org
------------------------------------------------------------------
Taxpayer Assets Project, P.O. Box 19367, Washington, DC 20036;
v. 202/387-8030; f. 202/234-5176; internet: tap@essential.org
------------------------------------------------------------------
tap-info postings are archived at cspr.org. ftp: ftp.cpsr.org;
gopher: gopher.cpsr.org; wais: wais.cspr.org
To receive tap-info, send a note to tap-info-request@essential.org
------------------------------------------------------------------
Taxpayer Assets Project, P.O. Box 19367, Washington, DC 20036;
v. 202/387-8030; f. 202/234-5176; internet: tap@essential.org
tap-info postings are archived at cspr.org. ftp: ftp.cpsr.org;
gopher: gopher.cpsr.org; wais: wais.cspr.org
This archive was generated by hypermail 2b29 : 03/07/00 PST