Where can PACER filings for Katie Johnson v. Donald J. Trump be accessed and what are PACER fees?
Executive summary
Katie Johnson v. Donald J. Trump (C.D. Cal. No. 5:16-cv-00797) can be found on PACER—the federal courts’ official docket system—and on multiple public mirrors and aggregators that republish PACER-sourced documents such as CourtListener, Internet Archive, Justia, PACERMonitor and commercial services like Law360 [1] [2] [3] [4] [5]. Several of those mirror sites and archives note that the underlying documents were originally obtained from PACER and that “PACER access fees apply” for users accessing them directly through the court system [6] [1] [7].
1. Where the official PACER filings live and how they are identified
The official filings for Katie Johnson v. Donald J. Trump are stored in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California’s electronic docket and are accessible through PACER by searching the case number 5:16-cv-00797 or the party names [3] [4]. PACER is the Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts’ system that hosts federal case dockets and documents, and case-specific pages (including complaints, notices and docket entries) are the authoritative source for filings [3] [4].
2. Public mirrors and third‑party aggregators that republish PACER content
Multiple publicly accessible sites republish or index PACER-derived material for this case: CourtListener hosts a docket page sourced from PACER/RECAP for the Katie Johnson matter [1]; the Internet Archive contains a docket snapshot and related documents [2] [6]; Justia provides a docket summary with links and a PACER note [3]; PACERMonitor and Law360 also index the case and offer downloadable filings or summaries [8] [5]. These mirrors frequently include the complaint and other filings and often flag which items came from PACER or the RECAP archive [1] [7].
3. RECAP, the FJC IDB and community‑collected copies
The RECAP project and related community archives can make some PACER documents available for free if a RECAP copy exists; CourtListener’s RECAP-derived pages and the Federal Judicial Center’s Integrated Database (IDB) provide metadata and occasionally document links that were harvested or requested from PACER [1] [7]. CourtListener and FJC/IDB pages explicitly state when documents are sourced from PACER and when community-contributed RECAP copies are present or requested [1] [7].
4. What reporting shows about PACER fees — and the limits of available sources
Several of the mirror sites and archived collections warn that “PACER access fees apply” when obtaining documents from the official system, but the set of provided sources in this packet does not include the PACER fee schedule or exact per‑page or per‑document prices [6] [1]. Because the included sources note only that fees apply and redirect users to PACER or to paid/commercial services for full access, the precise fee amounts, fee caps, and current waiver policies cannot be asserted from the supplied reporting alone [6] [3]. The authoritative PACER fee schedule and any recent fee changes or waivers are published by the U.S. Courts/Administrative Office and were not part of the source set provided here, so those exact numbers are outside the scope of this report [3].
5. Practical takeaway and next steps for researchers
To obtain the full official docket and all filings, use PACER and search by case number 5:16-cv-00797 or the parties; when PACER access is not possible or to check for free copies first, consult CourtListener, Internet Archive, Justia, PACERMonitor and other aggregators that index or host PACER‑sourced documents for this case [4] [1] [2] [3] [8]. If exact PACER fees are required, consult the U.S. Courts/AOUSC PACER fee schedule directly because the documents provided here only note that fees apply and do not list current fee amounts or fee policies [6] [3].