# US Court Opinions & Dockets Search - CourtListener (`pushbuild/us-court-cases`) Actor

Search millions of US court opinions and federal (PACER) dockets by keyword, court and date. Returns case name, court, dates, docket number, citations, judges, parties, nature of suit, snippet, PDF and case links.

- **URL**: https://apify.com/pushbuild/us-court-cases.md
- **Developed by:** [Pushbuild Data](https://apify.com/pushbuild) (community)
- **Categories:** Business, Lead generation, Other
- **Stats:** 2 total users, 1 monthly users, 100.0% runs succeeded, 0 bookmarks
- **User rating**: No ratings yet

## Pricing

$1.00 / 1,000 cases

This Actor is paid per event. You are not charged for the Apify platform usage, but only a fixed price for specific events.

Learn more: https://docs.apify.com/actors/running/actors-in-store.md#pay-per-event

## What's an Apify Actor?

An Actor is a serverless cloud program that runs on the Apify platform. It has two run modes.
In Batch mode, an Actor accepts a well-defined JSON input, performs an action which can take anything from a few seconds to a few hours,
and optionally produces a well-defined JSON output, datasets with results, or files in key-value store.
In Standby mode, an Actor provides a web server which can be used as a website, API, or an MCP server.

Apify vocabulary and the platform model are defined once, in the agent quickstart at https://apify.com/agents.md.

## How to integrate an Actor?

If asked about integration, you help developers integrate Actors into their projects.
You adapt to their stack and deliver integrations that are safe, well-documented, and production-ready.

Do not guess an integration path. Every one of them is in the agent quickstart at https://apify.com/agents.md: the Apify MCP server, Agent Skills with the Apify CLI, the JavaScript and Python clients, the REST API, and the account-free path for an agent with no human to sign in. It also carries the rule on stating cost before the first paid run.

For examples already wired to this Actor's own input schema, see the [API](#api) section below.

Each client library has reference documentation the quickstart does not restate: [JavaScript/TypeScript](https://docs.apify.com/api/client/js/docs.md) (`npm install apify-client`) and [Python](https://docs.apify.com/api/client/python/docs.md) (`pip install apify-client`).

# README

## US Court Opinions & Dockets Search - CourtListener

Search US case law and federal court dockets from CourtListener, the Free Law Project's open legal archive.

### Search

- **Opinions**: written decisions from the Supreme Court, federal appellate and district courts, and state courts.
- **Dockets**: federal (PACER/RECAP) case filings with parties, attorneys and nature of suit.

Filter by court ID (`scotus`, `ca9`, `nysd`...), filing date range and precedential status. Sort by relevance, date or citation count.

### Each result

Case name, court, filing and argument dates, docket number, citations, cite count, judges, parties, attorneys, nature of suit, snippet, PDF link and CourtListener link.

### Uses

Litigation monitoring, legal research, due diligence on companies, and lead generation for legal services. Pay per case.

# Actor input Schema

## `queries` (type: `array`):

Keywords, phrases in quotes, or fielded queries like caseName:(apple) or party:"Tesla".

## `searchType` (type: `string`):

Opinions are written decisions; dockets are federal case filings. "New lawsuits" treats each query as a company or party name and returns newly filed federal cases (default: last 7 days).

## `natureOfSuit` (type: `array`):

Optional nature-of-suit codes or text, e.g. 850 (Securities/Commodities), 410 (Antitrust), 830 (Patent), 190 (Contract), Securities. Works without a query.

## `courts` (type: `array`):

CourtListener court IDs, e.g. scotus, ca9, cand, nysd, del.

## `filedAfter` (type: `string`):

YYYY-MM-DD.

## `filedBefore` (type: `string`):

YYYY-MM-DD.

## `precedentialOnly` (type: `boolean`):

Only published (precedential) opinions.

## `sort` (type: `string`):

Order of results.

## `maxResultsPerQuery` (type: `integer`):

Results to return for each query.

## Actor input object example

```json
{
  "queries": [
    "\"data breach\" class action"
  ],
  "searchType": "opinions",
  "precedentialOnly": false,
  "sort": "relevance",
  "maxResultsPerQuery": 100
}
```

# Actor output Schema

## `results` (type: `string`):

No description

# API

You can run this Actor programmatically using our API. Below are code examples in JavaScript, Python, and CLI, as well as the OpenAPI specification and MCP server setup.

## JavaScript example

```javascript
import { ApifyClient } from 'apify-client';

// Initialize the ApifyClient with your Apify API token
// Replace the '<YOUR_API_TOKEN>' with your token
const client = new ApifyClient({
    token: '<YOUR_API_TOKEN>',
});

// Prepare Actor input
const input = {
    "queries": [
        "\"data breach\" class action"
    ]
};

// Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
const run = await client.actor("pushbuild/us-court-cases").call(input);

// Fetch and print Actor results from the run's dataset (if any)
console.log('Results from dataset');
console.log(`💾 Check your data here: https://console.apify.com/storage/datasets/${run.defaultDatasetId}`);
const { items } = await client.dataset(run.defaultDatasetId).listItems();
items.forEach((item) => {
    console.dir(item);
});

// 📚 Want to learn more 📖? Go to → https://docs.apify.com/api/client/js/docs

```

## Python example

```python
from apify_client import ApifyClient

# Initialize the ApifyClient with your Apify API token
# Replace '<YOUR_API_TOKEN>' with your token.
client = ApifyClient("<YOUR_API_TOKEN>")

# Prepare the Actor input
run_input = { "queries": ["\"data breach\" class action"] }

# Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
run = client.actor("pushbuild/us-court-cases").call(run_input=run_input)

# Fetch and print Actor results from the run's dataset (if there are any)
print(f"💾 Check your data here: https://console.apify.com/storage/datasets/{run.default_dataset_id}")
for item in client.dataset(run.default_dataset_id).iterate_items():
    print(item)

# 📚 Want to learn more 📖? Go to → https://docs.apify.com/api/client/python/docs/quick-start

```

## CLI example

```bash
echo '{
  "queries": [
    "\\"data breach\\" class action"
  ]
}' |
apify call pushbuild/us-court-cases --silent --output-dataset

```

## MCP server setup

```json
{
    "mcpServers": {
        "apify": {
            "type": "http",
            "url": "https://mcp.apify.com/?tools=fetch-actor-details,pushbuild/us-court-cases"
        }
    }
}
```

The hosted server signs you in with OAuth on first connect, so no API token belongs in this config. Clients without OAuth support can send an `Authorization: Bearer <APIFY_API_TOKEN>` header instead, using a token from API & Integrations in Apify Console (https://console.apify.com/settings/integrations).

## OpenAPI specification

Download the OpenAPI definition: https://api.apify.com/v2/actors/rSYo3oETGafNg6Ecw/builds/A2OTYbp8FlNZUddHz/openapi.json