Rule 2.02 General Policy

(a) Policy. Records of the judicial proceedings of all courts are presumed to be open to any member of the public for purposes of inspection or copying. This policy does not apply to records that are confidential pursuant to statute, court rule or order, or other law; judicial or judicial staff work product, electronic communications, or calendars; memoranda or drafts; or appellate judicial case assignments. Court Operating Rule 2 imposes no obligation upon the judiciary to create a data element, make a data element available electronically, or produce non-standard reports.

(b) Obtaining Records. Court records, information, and services shall be provided at a time and in a manner that does not interfere with the regular business of the courts. Confidential or sealed records shall not be made available to the public unless otherwise ordered by the court having custody of the records.

(1) Direct Public Access. Case records that are not confidential pursuant to statute, court rule, or other law, or that are not sealed pursuant to court order, can be obtained in person from the court having custody of the case records. Requests to copy or inspect such records shall be made during the regular business hours of the court having custody of the records.

(2) Remote Public Access. Case records filed on or after July 1, 2023, that are not confidential pursuant to statute, court rule, or other law, or are not sealed pursuant to court order, may be obtained through remote access over the Internet, depending on the case or document type. Remote public access to case records shall not be available if it is contrary to a statute, a court rule, or a court order in a particular case. This remote public access may be temporarily suspended at any time the State Courts Administrator determines that the operation of remote public access adversely impacts in any manner the statewide court automation system or court operations. The State Courts Administrator shall notify the Supreme Court and the clerk of the Supreme Court when temporary suspension occurs. Any suspension shall remain in effect until the State Courts Administrator determines that such adverse impact has been appropriately addressed and resolved.

(c) Prohibition on Automated Collection of Data. Access to any Missouri judicial website, including but not limited to Case.net, by a site data scraper or any similar software intended to discover and extract data from a website through automated, repetitive querying for the purpose of collecting such data is expressly prohibited.