CourtListener Legal Data API Scraper

Fetch legal opinions, dockets, oral arguments, and RECAP documents from the CourtListener REST API v4.

Features

• Search across multiple legal data types:
  • Opinions: Federal and state court decisions
  • Dockets: Case metadata and filings
  • RECAP: PACER documents from the RECAP Archive
  • Oral Arguments: Audio recordings of court arguments
• Filter by court, date range, and search terms
• Handles cursor-based pagination automatically
• Respects API rate limits (5000 requests/hour)

Prerequisites

You need a free CourtListener API token:

1. Create an account at https://www.courtlistener.com/sign-in/
2. Go to your profile to get your API token

Input Parameters

Parameter	Type	Required	Default	Description
apiToken	string	Yes	-	Your CourtListener API token
searchType	string	No	opinions	Type: opinions, dockets, recap, oral_arguments
query	string	No	-	Search terms (e.g., "first amendment")
court	string	No	-	Court code (e.g., "scotus", "ca9")
dateAfter	string	No	-	Filed after date (YYYY-MM-DD)
dateBefore	string	No	-	Filed before date (YYYY-MM-DD)
maxItems	integer	No	100	Maximum items to fetch (max 5000)
includeFullText	boolean	No	false	Include full opinion text

Court Codes

Common court codes:

• scotus - U.S. Supreme Court
• ca1 through ca11 - Circuit Courts of Appeals
• cadc - D.C. Circuit
• cafc - Federal Circuit
• nysd - Southern District of New York
• cacd - Central District of California

Full list: https://www.courtlistener.com/api/rest/v4/courts/

Output Schema

Opinions

{
  "id": 12345,
  "absolute_url": "/opinion/12345/case-name/",
  "case_name": "Smith v. Jones",
  "case_name_short": "Smith",
  "court": "Supreme Court of the United States",
  "court_id": "scotus",
  "date_filed": "2024-01-15",
  "author_str": "Roberts",
  "citation_count": 42,
  "citations": ["123 S. Ct. 456"],
  "snippet": "...highlighted search match...",
  "download_url": "https://..."
}

Dockets

{
  "id": 67890,
  "absolute_url": "/docket/67890/case-name/",
  "case_name": "United States v. Defendant",
  "court": "U.S. District Court",
  "court_id": "nysd",
  "docket_number": "1:23-cv-01234",
  "date_filed": "2024-02-01",
  "date_terminated": "2024-06-15",
  "nature_of_suit": "Civil Rights",
  "assigned_to_str": "Judge Name"
}

Oral Arguments

{
  "id": 11111,
  "absolute_url": "/audio/11111/case-name/",
  "case_name": "Petitioner v. Respondent",
  "court_id": "scotus",
  "date_argued": "2024-03-01",
  "duration": 3600,
  "download_url": "https://.../audio.mp3",
  "judges": "Roberts, Thomas, Alito..."
}

Example Usage

Search Supreme Court opinions about free speech

{
  "apiToken": "your-token-here",
  "searchType": "opinions",
  "query": "free speech first amendment",
  "court": "scotus",
  "maxItems": 50
}

Get recent 9th Circuit decisions

{
  "apiToken": "your-token-here",
  "searchType": "opinions",
  "court": "ca9",
  "dateAfter": "2024-01-01",
  "maxItems": 100
}

Search RECAP for bankruptcy filings

{
  "apiToken": "your-token-here",
  "searchType": "recap",
  "query": "chapter 11 bankruptcy",
  "maxItems": 200
}

API Rate Limits

• 5,000 queries per hour for authenticated users
• The scraper includes a 500ms delay between requests
• Do not create multiple accounts to bypass limits

Local Testing

npm install
echo '{"apiToken":"your-token","query":"test","maxItems":5}' > storage/key_value_stores/default/INPUT.json
node src/main.js
cat storage/datasets/default/*.json

Resources

• CourtListener API Docs
• Search API Guide
• Case Law API
• RECAP API