A 24-year-old Tennessee man, Nicholas Moore, is expected to plead guilty to hacking the U.S. Supreme Court's electronic document filing system on multiple occasions between August and October 2023. According to court documents, Moore, a resident of Springfield, intentionally accessed a protected computer without authorization on 25 separate days, thereby obtaining information from the system.

The U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia is prosecuting the case. A court spokesperson stated that no further information beyond what has already been made public is available at this time. The U.S. Department of Justice did not immediately respond to requests for comment. Eugene Ohm, Moore's lawyer, also did not respond to an email seeking comment.

The unauthorized access raises concerns about the security of sensitive legal documents and the potential for compromised information within the Supreme Court's electronic filing system. While the specific information accessed by Moore and the methods he employed remain undisclosed, the incident highlights the ongoing challenges of safeguarding digital assets against unauthorized access, even within highly secured government institutions. Court Watch's Seamus Hughes, a researcher and journalist who monitors court documents, initially spotted the case.

Moore is scheduled to enter his guilty plea via video link on Friday. The outcome of the plea and any subsequent sentencing will likely influence future security protocols and measures implemented by the Supreme Court and other government agencies to protect their electronic filing systems from similar attacks. The case underscores the importance of robust cybersecurity measures and continuous monitoring to detect and prevent unauthorized access to sensitive information.