NELSEN LAW OFFICE 
                           David M. Nelsen 
                           Attorney aT Law 
                        956 East State Street 
                        Mason City, IA 50401 
                         Phone 515-424-5188 
                          Fax 515-424-5403 
 
                                   March 12, 1997 
 
Via Fax: 202-273-1555 
 
ABA Citation Resolution 
Suite 4-512 
Administrative Office of the U. S. Courts 
Washington, DC 20544 
 
Re: Public Domain Legal Citation 
 
     The public has been invited to comment on two questions: 
 
     1. Whether the Federal Courts should adopt the form of official 
        citation for court decisions recommended by the ABA 
        Resolution; and 
 
     2. The costs and benefits such a decision would have on the 
        courts, the bar, and the public. 
 
     Addressing Question #1 first, it is not only inappropriate but 
is outrageous to believe and/or allow a private company to believe or 
subscribe to the belief that it is the owner of the government 
decision merely because it has placed a citation upon the 
government's decision. By so doing, it immediately limits the 
accessibility to court decisions that are in the public domain and, 
in my belief, owned by the taxpayers, without having to pay some 
third party an amount of money to gain access to its own property or 
decision. 
 
     As the owner of these court decisions, the public should not 
have to pay or subscribe or have limitations on the decisions in the 
accessibility. This would apply to students, professors, and the 
public in general as business persons, scientists, or any other 
persons who have a need to know what our courts are doing regarding 
the law in this country. 
 
     By having access to court opinions, citizens should then be able 
to settle disputes of their own in a more timely, cost efficient way, 
and hopefully, without having to ask for access to the court's 
system. Simply because they know and can read on the Internet what 
the courts are saying about their problem. In addition, the owners of 
the decisions or taxpayers have access to the laws that they need to 
obey as well as the interpretation given by our courts to those laws. 
 
     Question #2. As to the costs and benefits of following the 
recommendation of the ABA Resolution, it becomes merely a comparison 
of what one pays for the use of the Internet on a monthly basis to 
receive the decisions as opposed to what one must pay as a taxpayer 
to receive a copy of its own property because it has been published 
by some third party. The costs as well as the benefits are enormous 
when we start to look at the accessibility to persons of lower 
income, no income, or little income, like students, to persons in 
rural communities, such as one where I live. Costs, of course, are 
part of the travel that is then necessary if a student or other 
person desirous of learning and reading the decision must travel to 
some public institution that has the published decision now produced 
by private third parties at extremely high costs. It would no doubt 
be alarming to learn what the cost savings would be by having the 
decisions produced or published on the Internet merely in the paper 
cost savings as well as the destruction of trees, clean air, etc., 
etc., etc. The saving would be enormous for three levels of 
government as well, that being federal, state, and local, as they 
are gigantic consumers of such information. Their expenses and costs 
would be reduced remarkably, which in turn would save every tax payer 
moneys and time by such a decision. 
 
     In closing, I can find no legitimate reason to exclude the 
taxpayers from direct access by following the ABA form of official 
citation for court decisions. I sincerely hope upon your I 
examination of the issues, you will find the same. I thank you for 
taking time to read my concerns and belief that the ABA Resolution 
should be followed. 
 
     Best regards. 
 
                                   Sincerely yours, 
                                   NELSEN LAW OFFICE 
 
                                   David M. Nelsen