As to #2, as far as I am aware, there is nothing to "force a court to accept electronic records"; however, this would be in the inherent discretion of the Court. Especially persuasive is the argument that in the Court Rules themselves, under the Filing provision, there is no filing rule just a request to call the clerk, which on its face appears to be a deliberate attempt to limit access to the Court - again this is just a Motion, it may be denied, like the Motions to Quash may be denied, but I imagine a Judge would have a hard time justifying the denial a Motion to permit electronic filing as such a limited issue certainly does not jeopardize national security in any sense, unless they consider citizens exercising their rights a threat to national security (not that US citizens have a right to e-file, but they have a right to petition the court, and the argument is that said right is being denied through the existing Court Rules).
Notwithstanding, the Motions to Quash will likely put great weight on the judicial economy, and I am sure it is all fun and games in the FISA Court until the Judges have to cancel their golf games to do real work. It always makes me smile thinking of the government employees who without any thought take a personal interest in the subversion of the rights of citizens, and the crushing weight of the citizens who will fight for their rights/liberties.
I agree that they're limiting access ad that I could probably ask for some public method of filing, whether it be paper or electronic. Note that I've filed so far about 6 motions for file electronically in U.S. District Courts and Courts of Appeals. Four of them have been granted, 1 rejected because the judge mistakenly thought the court didn't have the technical ability to do it for pro se litigants, and one rejected without reason, the latter being by a Court of Appeals. It's surprising but the courts are not firmly on-board with the e-filing -- unless, of course, they think it wil make things easier for them.
>It's surprising but the courts are not firmly on-board with the e-filing -- unless, of course, they think it wil make things easier for them.
As you noted this is for pro se parties, but otherwise not so surprising based on my personal experience, even for attorneys despite mandatory e-filing in many instances, local rules or more specific Judge rules require courtesy hard copies hand delivered to chambers in addition to the e-filing, such is the nature of 80-90 year old Federal Judges who have no intent on retiring and no intent to learn how to turn on a computer. In fairness, and I certainly do not want to come off as unfairly taking shots at the judiciary, I have met a few old timer Judges who could run circles around me on the computer.
The first time I spoke in front of a federal judge, the ~90 year old judge walked into the room with a seeing eye dog. There are indeed awesome judges out there (and this may or may not have been one of them -- the case was settled after the first conference), but many have little incentive to adapt to the new.
As to #2, as far as I am aware, there is nothing to "force a court to accept electronic records"; however, this would be in the inherent discretion of the Court. Especially persuasive is the argument that in the Court Rules themselves, under the Filing provision, there is no filing rule just a request to call the clerk, which on its face appears to be a deliberate attempt to limit access to the Court - again this is just a Motion, it may be denied, like the Motions to Quash may be denied, but I imagine a Judge would have a hard time justifying the denial a Motion to permit electronic filing as such a limited issue certainly does not jeopardize national security in any sense, unless they consider citizens exercising their rights a threat to national security (not that US citizens have a right to e-file, but they have a right to petition the court, and the argument is that said right is being denied through the existing Court Rules).
Notwithstanding, the Motions to Quash will likely put great weight on the judicial economy, and I am sure it is all fun and games in the FISA Court until the Judges have to cancel their golf games to do real work. It always makes me smile thinking of the government employees who without any thought take a personal interest in the subversion of the rights of citizens, and the crushing weight of the citizens who will fight for their rights/liberties.