# CourtListener Court Cases & Opinions Scraper (`scrapers_lat/courtlistener-scraper`) Actor
Scrape US court cases, opinions and dockets: case name, court, date filed, docket number, citations, judges and opinion text. Search by keyword, court and date. Export to JSON, CSV or Excel.
- **URL**: https://apify.com/scrapers\_lat/courtlistener-scraper.md
- **Developed by:** [Scrapers Lat](https://apify.com/scrapers_lat) (community)
- **Categories:** Automation, Developer tools
- **Stats:** 2 total users, 1 monthly users, 100.0% runs succeeded, 0 bookmarks
- **User rating**: No ratings yet
## Pricing
from $2.00 / 1,000 results
This Actor is paid per event. You are not charged for the Apify platform usage, but only a fixed price for specific events.
Since this Actor supports Apify Store discounts, the price gets lower the higher subscription plan you have.
Learn more: https://docs.apify.com/platform/actors/running/actors-in-store#pay-per-event
## What's an Apify Actor?
Actors are a software tools running on the Apify platform, for all kinds of web data extraction and automation use cases.
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.
Actors are written with capital "A".
## 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.
The best way to integrate Actors is as follows.
In JavaScript/TypeScript projects, use official [JavaScript/TypeScript client](https://docs.apify.com/api/client/js.md):
```bash
npm install apify-client
```
In Python projects, use official [Python client library](https://docs.apify.com/api/client/python.md):
```bash
pip install apify-client
```
In shell scripts, use [Apify CLI](https://docs.apify.com/cli/docs.md):
````bash
# MacOS / Linux
curl -fsSL https://apify.com/install-cli.sh | bash
# Windows
irm https://apify.com/install-cli.ps1 | iex
```bash
In AI frameworks, you might use the [Apify MCP server](https://docs.apify.com/platform/integrations/mcp.md).
If your project is in a different language, use the [REST API](https://docs.apify.com/api/v2.md).
For usage examples, see the [API](#api) section below.
For more details, see Apify documentation as [Markdown index](https://docs.apify.com/llms.txt) and [Markdown full-text](https://docs.apify.com/llms-full.txt).
# README
[](https://console.apify.com/actors/ebJJw6qdOnhKT40xc/input)
## CourtListener Court Cases & Opinions Scraper
> Extract US court cases, opinions and dockets by keyword, court and date, covering federal and state courts nationwide
20+ fields per record
US federal & state coverage
JSON / CSV / Excel output formats
Updated 2026-07-05
### What you get
Search American case law and litigation records, then export a clean row per court case. Each record carries the case name, court, filing date, docket number, reporter citations, the deciding judges and the opinion text, or the full party and attorney lineup for a docket.
- **caseName**: the case title (for example Miranda v. Arizona)
- **caseNameFull**: the long-form case caption when available
- **recordType**: whether the row is an opinion or a docket
- **court**: the full court name (for example District Court, S.D. New York)
- **courtId**: the short court code (for example scotus, ca9, nysd)
- **courtCitation**: the court's citation abbreviation
- **dateFiled**: the date the case was filed or decided
- **dateArgued**: the date the case was argued, when recorded
- **docketNumber**: the court docket number
- **citations**: the reporter citations for the opinion (for example 384 U.S. 436)
- **citedByCount**: how many later cases cite this one
- **precedentialStatus**: whether the opinion is published or unpublished
- **judge**: the deciding judge or panel names
- **natureOfSuit**: the nature-of-suit classification
- **snippet**: an excerpt of the opinion text
- **documentUrl**: link to the source opinion document
- **url**: link to the full case page
- **opinions\***: every opinion in the cluster, each with its text snippet, document link, author and citation count
- **judges\***: resolved judge biographies with name, date of birth, political affiliation and schools
- **assignedJudge\***: the judge assigned to a docket
- **parties\***: every party named in a docket
- **attorneys\***: every attorney of record in a docket
- **lawFirms\***: the law firms representing parties in a docket
- **documents\***: the filed documents for a docket, each with a description and link
- **observedAt**: when this case was last seen by the scraper
*\*These fields only appear when withDetails is set to true.*
### Who is it for
| Use case | Who benefits |
|---|---|
| Legal research on case law and precedent | Attorneys, paralegals and law students |
| Litigation and docket monitoring | Litigation teams and legal-ops analysts |
| Tracking a court, judge or party over time | Compliance and risk teams |
| Investigative and court reporting | Journalists and newsrooms |
| Building legal datasets and analytics | Legal-tech and data science teams |
### Frequently Asked Questions
**Which courts and cases are covered?**
Coverage spans US federal and state courts, including the Supreme Court, the federal circuit courts of appeals, district courts and many state appellate courts. You can search everything at once or narrow to a single court using its short code, such as scotus, ca9 or nysd.
**How many cases can I collect in one run?**
Set maxItems to any number you need. The scraper pages through the results automatically until it reaches your limit, so you can pull a handful of leading cases or thousands of dockets in one run.
**Can I filter by court and date?**
Yes. You can restrict results to one court and to a date range using a filed-after and filed-before date, and sort by relevance, newest, oldest or most cited.
**What is the difference between opinions and dockets?**
Opinions return decided case law with citations, the deciding judges and the opinion text. Dockets return the case timeline with every party, attorney, law firm and filed document, which is useful for tracking active litigation.
**What happens to fields that a case does not have?**
Fields that a particular case does not carry are returned as null rather than dropped, so every row keeps the same shape and is easy to load into a spreadsheet or database.
### Export, API and AI agents (x402 + MCP)
Export the scraped data to **JSON, CSV or Excel**, pull it as a **dataset** through the Apify **API**, or wire it into your app with **no code**. This web scraper and data extractor also works for bulk data extraction and scheduled runs.
For AI agents: this Actor is available on **x402**, Apify's agentic payment standard built with Coinbase. An AI agent can discover, pay for and run it on its own with a funded wallet and a single HTTP request: no account, no subscription, no API key and no human in the loop. It also runs as an **MCP** tool inside Claude, Cursor and other AI clients out of the box. Learn more about [x402 agentic payments on Apify](https://docs.apify.com/platform/integrations/x402).
### Related scrapers
Need data from the same space? Here are other scrapers we build and maintain:
- [USAspending Federal Award & Contract Scraper](https://apify.com/scrapers_lat/usaspending-awards-scraper): US federal contracts, grants and loans with recipients and amounts
- [SEC EDGAR Filings Scraper](https://apify.com/scrapers_lat/sec-edgar-filings-scraper): company filings and disclosures from the SEC EDGAR system
- [SAM.gov Contract Opportunities Scraper](https://apify.com/scrapers_lat/sam-gov-opportunities-scraper): federal contract and grant opportunities from SAM.gov
- [OFAC Sanctions List Scraper](https://apify.com/scrapers_lat/ofac-sanctions-scraper): sanctioned individuals and entities from the US Treasury OFAC lists
- [Federal Register Scraper](https://apify.com/scrapers_lat/federal-register-scraper): US federal rules, notices and executive orders
- [NPPES NPI Provider Scraper](https://apify.com/scrapers_lat/nppes-npi-scraper): US healthcare provider records from the national NPI registry
### More scrapers at scrapers.lat
This actor is built and maintained by [scrapers.lat](https://scrapers.lat), where we publish scrapers for Latin American and US public platforms: real estate, jobs, e-commerce, company registries and government data. Browse the full catalog, see live sample output for each one, or ask us for a custom scraper at [scrapers.lat](https://scrapers.lat).
---
> This actor is an independent tool and has no affiliation with CourtListener or the Free Law Project. It only accesses data that is publicly available. Use it in accordance with the source platform's terms of service.
# Actor input Schema
## `maxItems` (type: `integer`):
Maximum number of cases to collect. Optional.
## `withDetails` (type: `boolean`):
When enabled, each record includes the full nested data: every opinion in the cluster (with text snippet and document link), or every party, attorney, law firm and filed document for a docket, plus resolved judge biographies. Adds extra requests for judge lookups.
## `query` (type: `string`):
Search terms across case names, opinion text, parties and citations (for example: first amendment, qualified immunity, patent infringement, Roe v. Wade).
## `type` (type: `string`):
Choose what to collect: court opinions (case law with citations and opinion text) or dockets (case timelines with parties, attorneys and filed documents).
## `court` (type: `string`):
Restrict to a single court by its code (for example: scotus for the US Supreme Court, ca9 for the 9th Circuit, nysd for the Southern District of New York). Leave empty for all courts.
## `dateFrom` (type: `string`):
Earliest date a case was filed (YYYY-MM-DD).
## `dateTo` (type: `string`):
Latest date a case was filed (YYYY-MM-DD).
## `sort` (type: `string`):
Order of the results.
## Actor input object example
```json
{
"maxItems": 10,
"withDetails": true,
"query": "qualified immunity",
"type": "opinions",
"sort": "relevance"
}
````
# 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 '' with your token
const client = new ApifyClient({
token: '',
});
// Prepare Actor input
const input = {
"maxItems": 10,
"query": "qualified immunity"
};
// Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
const run = await client.actor("scrapers_lat/courtlistener-scraper").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 '' with your token.
client = ApifyClient("")
# Prepare the Actor input
run_input = {
"maxItems": 10,
"query": "qualified immunity",
}
# Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
run = client.actor("scrapers_lat/courtlistener-scraper").call(run_input=run_input)
# Fetch and print Actor results from the run's dataset (if there are any)
print("💾 Check your data here: https://console.apify.com/storage/datasets/" + run["defaultDatasetId"])
for item in client.dataset(run["defaultDatasetId"]).iterate_items():
print(item)
# 📚 Want to learn more 📖? Go to → https://docs.apify.com/api/client/python/docs/quick-start
```
## CLI example
```bash
echo '{
"maxItems": 10,
"query": "qualified immunity"
}' |
apify call scrapers_lat/courtlistener-scraper --silent --output-dataset
```
## MCP server setup
```json
{
"mcpServers": {
"apify": {
"command": "npx",
"args": [
"mcp-remote",
"https://mcp.apify.com/?tools=scrapers_lat/courtlistener-scraper",
"--header",
"Authorization: Bearer "
]
}
}
}
```
## OpenAPI specification
```json
{
"openapi": "3.0.1",
"info": {
"title": "CourtListener Court Cases & Opinions Scraper",
"description": "Scrape US court cases, opinions and dockets: case name, court, date filed, docket number, citations, judges and opinion text. Search by keyword, court and date. Export to JSON, CSV or Excel.",
"version": "0.1",
"x-build-id": "OAleDTooyHzlfyZDz"
},
"servers": [
{
"url": "https://api.apify.com/v2"
}
],
"paths": {
"/acts/scrapers_lat~courtlistener-scraper/run-sync-get-dataset-items": {
"post": {
"operationId": "run-sync-get-dataset-items-scrapers_lat-courtlistener-scraper",
"x-openai-isConsequential": false,
"summary": "Executes an Actor, waits for its completion, and returns Actor's dataset items in response.",
"tags": [
"Run Actor"
],
"requestBody": {
"required": true,
"content": {
"application/json": {
"schema": {
"$ref": "#/components/schemas/inputSchema"
}
}
}
},
"parameters": [
{
"name": "token",
"in": "query",
"required": true,
"schema": {
"type": "string"
},
"description": "Enter your Apify token here"
}
],
"responses": {
"200": {
"description": "OK"
}
}
}
},
"/acts/scrapers_lat~courtlistener-scraper/runs": {
"post": {
"operationId": "runs-sync-scrapers_lat-courtlistener-scraper",
"x-openai-isConsequential": false,
"summary": "Executes an Actor and returns information about the initiated run in response.",
"tags": [
"Run Actor"
],
"requestBody": {
"required": true,
"content": {
"application/json": {
"schema": {
"$ref": "#/components/schemas/inputSchema"
}
}
}
},
"parameters": [
{
"name": "token",
"in": "query",
"required": true,
"schema": {
"type": "string"
},
"description": "Enter your Apify token here"
}
],
"responses": {
"200": {
"description": "OK",
"content": {
"application/json": {
"schema": {
"$ref": "#/components/schemas/runsResponseSchema"
}
}
}
}
}
}
},
"/acts/scrapers_lat~courtlistener-scraper/run-sync": {
"post": {
"operationId": "run-sync-scrapers_lat-courtlistener-scraper",
"x-openai-isConsequential": false,
"summary": "Executes an Actor, waits for completion, and returns the OUTPUT from Key-value store in response.",
"tags": [
"Run Actor"
],
"requestBody": {
"required": true,
"content": {
"application/json": {
"schema": {
"$ref": "#/components/schemas/inputSchema"
}
}
}
},
"parameters": [
{
"name": "token",
"in": "query",
"required": true,
"schema": {
"type": "string"
},
"description": "Enter your Apify token here"
}
],
"responses": {
"200": {
"description": "OK"
}
}
}
}
},
"components": {
"schemas": {
"inputSchema": {
"type": "object",
"properties": {
"maxItems": {
"title": "Max Items",
"minimum": 1,
"maximum": 1000000,
"type": "integer",
"description": "Maximum number of cases to collect. Optional."
},
"withDetails": {
"title": "Fetch full details",
"type": "boolean",
"description": "When enabled, each record includes the full nested data: every opinion in the cluster (with text snippet and document link), or every party, attorney, law firm and filed document for a docket, plus resolved judge biographies. Adds extra requests for judge lookups.",
"default": true
},
"query": {
"title": "Search query",
"type": "string",
"description": "Search terms across case names, opinion text, parties and citations (for example: first amendment, qualified immunity, patent infringement, Roe v. Wade)."
},
"type": {
"title": "Record type",
"enum": [
"opinions",
"dockets"
],
"type": "string",
"description": "Choose what to collect: court opinions (case law with citations and opinion text) or dockets (case timelines with parties, attorneys and filed documents).",
"default": "opinions"
},
"court": {
"title": "Court",
"type": "string",
"description": "Restrict to a single court by its code (for example: scotus for the US Supreme Court, ca9 for the 9th Circuit, nysd for the Southern District of New York). Leave empty for all courts."
},
"dateFrom": {
"title": "Filed after",
"type": "string",
"description": "Earliest date a case was filed (YYYY-MM-DD)."
},
"dateTo": {
"title": "Filed before",
"type": "string",
"description": "Latest date a case was filed (YYYY-MM-DD)."
},
"sort": {
"title": "Sort by",
"enum": [
"relevance",
"newest",
"oldest",
"most cited"
],
"type": "string",
"description": "Order of the results.",
"default": "relevance"
}
}
},
"runsResponseSchema": {
"type": "object",
"properties": {
"data": {
"type": "object",
"properties": {
"id": {
"type": "string"
},
"actId": {
"type": "string"
},
"userId": {
"type": "string"
},
"startedAt": {
"type": "string",
"format": "date-time",
"example": "2025-01-08T00:00:00.000Z"
},
"finishedAt": {
"type": "string",
"format": "date-time",
"example": "2025-01-08T00:00:00.000Z"
},
"status": {
"type": "string",
"example": "READY"
},
"meta": {
"type": "object",
"properties": {
"origin": {
"type": "string",
"example": "API"
},
"userAgent": {
"type": "string"
}
}
},
"stats": {
"type": "object",
"properties": {
"inputBodyLen": {
"type": "integer",
"example": 2000
},
"rebootCount": {
"type": "integer",
"example": 0
},
"restartCount": {
"type": "integer",
"example": 0
},
"resurrectCount": {
"type": "integer",
"example": 0
},
"computeUnits": {
"type": "integer",
"example": 0
}
}
},
"options": {
"type": "object",
"properties": {
"build": {
"type": "string",
"example": "latest"
},
"timeoutSecs": {
"type": "integer",
"example": 300
},
"memoryMbytes": {
"type": "integer",
"example": 1024
},
"diskMbytes": {
"type": "integer",
"example": 2048
}
}
},
"buildId": {
"type": "string"
},
"defaultKeyValueStoreId": {
"type": "string"
},
"defaultDatasetId": {
"type": "string"
},
"defaultRequestQueueId": {
"type": "string"
},
"buildNumber": {
"type": "string",
"example": "1.0.0"
},
"containerUrl": {
"type": "string"
},
"usage": {
"type": "object",
"properties": {
"ACTOR_COMPUTE_UNITS": {
"type": "integer",
"example": 0
},
"DATASET_READS": {
"type": "integer",
"example": 0
},
"DATASET_WRITES": {
"type": "integer",
"example": 0
},
"KEY_VALUE_STORE_READS": {
"type": "integer",
"example": 0
},
"KEY_VALUE_STORE_WRITES": {
"type": "integer",
"example": 1
},
"KEY_VALUE_STORE_LISTS": {
"type": "integer",
"example": 0
},
"REQUEST_QUEUE_READS": {
"type": "integer",
"example": 0
},
"REQUEST_QUEUE_WRITES": {
"type": "integer",
"example": 0
},
"DATA_TRANSFER_INTERNAL_GBYTES": {
"type": "integer",
"example": 0
},
"DATA_TRANSFER_EXTERNAL_GBYTES": {
"type": "integer",
"example": 0
},
"PROXY_RESIDENTIAL_TRANSFER_GBYTES": {
"type": "integer",
"example": 0
},
"PROXY_SERPS": {
"type": "integer",
"example": 0
}
}
},
"usageTotalUsd": {
"type": "number",
"example": 0.00005
},
"usageUsd": {
"type": "object",
"properties": {
"ACTOR_COMPUTE_UNITS": {
"type": "integer",
"example": 0
},
"DATASET_READS": {
"type": "integer",
"example": 0
},
"DATASET_WRITES": {
"type": "integer",
"example": 0
},
"KEY_VALUE_STORE_READS": {
"type": "integer",
"example": 0
},
"KEY_VALUE_STORE_WRITES": {
"type": "number",
"example": 0.00005
},
"KEY_VALUE_STORE_LISTS": {
"type": "integer",
"example": 0
},
"REQUEST_QUEUE_READS": {
"type": "integer",
"example": 0
},
"REQUEST_QUEUE_WRITES": {
"type": "integer",
"example": 0
},
"DATA_TRANSFER_INTERNAL_GBYTES": {
"type": "integer",
"example": 0
},
"DATA_TRANSFER_EXTERNAL_GBYTES": {
"type": "integer",
"example": 0
},
"PROXY_RESIDENTIAL_TRANSFER_GBYTES": {
"type": "integer",
"example": 0
},
"PROXY_SERPS": {
"type": "integer",
"example": 0
}
}
}
}
}
}
}
}
}
}
```