PACER buckles under MFA rollout, causing support delays

"LA lawyer Rob Freund shared an email via X showing that users are being told to avoid enrolling in the platform's MFA program until they are prompted to do so via email. PACER also told users to steer clear of the helplines to ease the burden on staff. "We ask that only users who receive a prompt to enroll in MFA when they log in should do so," the email reads. "If you do not receive an MFA enrollment prompt, no action is necessary. Please do not contact the [PACER Service Center] with questions about MFA until you are required to enroll. This ensures support is available for those who need it.""

"Another lawyer, based in South Carolina, reported the scale of the phone line congestion on Friday. While calling support to query a password-related issue, Mandy Powers Norrell said her expected wait time was 298 minutes at position 145 in the queue. Across the platform, users are also experiencing issues with logging in, as the website struggles with long freezes lasting several minutes before logins are approved. PACER lifted its enrollment deadline as a result of the issues at its support center, and will instead now enforce account protection in a phased manner."

"The platform, which is run by the US government, announced in April that MFA would become mandatory for some accounts - those with the ability to file documents and all other case management accounts. Users who signed up for the paid service just to access court documents are only "strongly encouraged" to enroll."

PACER's mandatory MFA rollout is generating widespread support congestion and login failures across the court-document platform. Several courts and individual users reported receiving messages advising users not to enroll until prompted and to avoid contacting helplines to conserve support capacity. Call queues reached multi-hour waits, with at least one user reporting an expected 298-minute hold time while far down the queue. Website logins are also freezing for several minutes before approval. PACER lifted the uniform enrollment deadline and will phase in mandatory account protection instead. The MFA requirement applies to filing and case-management accounts, while paid-document-only users are only strongly encouraged to enroll.

Read at Theregister