I've never seen any speculation that Lexis or Westlaw were affected. Also realize that the Minor case was available in hard text in the U.S. Supreme Court Reports published by West, and cross- indexed in published indices (primarily by West), and from other sources, such as www.findlaw.com. It was out there, and attorneys are held responsible for the contents of what they file. An error on Justia (or Westlaw, or Lexis) is not an excuse for an attorney in connection with a court filing; that's not my opinion, that's a matter of law.
You are correct ScoutMaster. I have no reason to think Lexis or WestLaw were in any way effected. However, most people do not have the thousands of dollars a year a subscription to those sites requires. most people do not have access to those resources. Additionally, how many people know where to go to get a hold of a Supreme Court Reporter? You need a Law School for that. Justia is Google powered internally with the Google Mini, and Google optimized on the internet, driving traffic on any SCOTUS search Justia’s way. because it is EASY, I mean E A S Y to use for the average person, many found themselves returning to it. The other free sites, including the Supreme Court itself are NOT even remotely as easy to use.
The EASE of use made it a go to for many, including myself at the time. You pretty much had to go to a brick and Mortar law library to get it. Now, how many political junkies went and did that during the 08 campaign?
Exactly.
How much of a difference did it make, we will never know. What we do know is that Justia advertised “Full Text of Case” on its pages before they got busted. By me and by Leo Donofrio. The magnitude of the damage is irrelevant when discussing the legality, shoot even the morality of such actions.
Wrong is wrong.