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> Just go to a law library.

The closest with a copy of the Federal Appendix is ~2 hrs away from me (or on LN if I pay for a subscription). It should be free and online, because it probably can't be copyrighted and because simplifying public access to the law is an unambiguous public good.

> Do you know that judges routinely make decisions based on confidential documents not in the public record? Is that also bad?

Of course not; the particularities of a given case is a very different concern from a document whose content is critical to interpretation of precedent. Also, the copyright claims on confidential documents might be valid, whereas any copyright claims on cases in the Federal Appendix probably aren't valid; see how of the government edicts doctrine was applied in Georgia v. Public.Resource.Org.




Facts are incredibly relevant to the meaning of a case's holding. The issue with confidential documents isn't their copyrightibility.




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