# CourtListener Scraper — US Case Law (`ponderable_hydrometer/courtlistener-scraper`) Actor

Search US court opinions and case law from CourtListener (Free Law Project) — case name, court, date, docket, citation and judge. Free, optional key for higher limits.

- **URL**: https://apify.com/ponderable\_hydrometer/courtlistener-scraper.md
- **Developed by:** [Ponderable Hydrometer](https://apify.com/ponderable_hydrometer) (community)
- **Categories:** Developer tools, Automation, SEO tools
- **Stats:** 2 total users, 1 monthly users, 100.0% runs succeeded, 0 bookmarks
- **User rating**: No ratings yet

## Pricing

from $5.00 / 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.

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

## What's an Apify Actor?

Actors are web data automations that power AI and operations. They run on the Apify platform to scrape websites, process data, connect APIs, and automate workflows.
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.

- **AI agents and MCP clients** — the [Apify MCP server](https://docs.apify.com/integrations/mcp.md) at `https://mcp.apify.com` (remote, streamable HTTP, OAuth on first use).
- **Agentic workflows and local Actor development** — [Agent Skills](https://apify.com/.well-known/agent-skills/index.json) with the [Apify CLI](https://docs.apify.com/cli/docs.md): `npm install -g apify-cli`, then `apify login`.
- **JavaScript/TypeScript projects** — the official [JS/TS client](https://docs.apify.com/api/client/js/docs.md): `npm install apify-client`.
- **Python projects** — the official [Python client](https://docs.apify.com/api/client/python/docs.md): `pip install apify-client`.
- **Any other language** — 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

## CourtListener Scraper — US Case Law & Opinions

**Search the largest free US legal database — millions of court opinions — from CourtListener (Free Law Project).** Case name, court, date filed, docket number, citations, cite count, judge, a text snippet and links. Filter by court and date range across SCOTUS, federal circuits and state courts. Free keyless API; an optional token raises rate limits.

For legal research, LLM datasets, citation-graph building and docket monitoring in an underserved legal niche.

### What you get

**opinions mode** — per case: `caseName`, `caseNameFull`, `court`, `courtId`, `dateFiled`, `dateArgued`, `docketNumber`, `citations[]`, `neutralCite`, `citeCount`, `status`, `judge`, `clusterId`, `docketId`, `suitNature`, `downloadUrl`, `opinionId`, `snippet`, `absoluteUrl`.

**courts mode** — per court: `id`, `shortName`, `fullName`, `jurisdiction`, `citationString`, `url`, `startDate`, `endDate`, `inUse`.

### Output sample (opinions mode)

```json
{
  "caseName": "Harlow v. Fitzgerald",
  "caseNameFull": "Harlow et al. v. Fitzgerald",
  "court": "Supreme Court of the United States",
  "courtId": "scotus",
  "dateFiled": "1982-06-24",
  "dateArgued": "1981-11-30",
  "docketNumber": "80-945",
  "citations": ["457 U.S. 800"],
  "neutralCite": null,
  "citeCount": 15230,
  "status": "Published",
  "judge": "Powell",
  "clusterId": 111278,
  "docketId": 63421,
  "suitNature": "Civil Rights",
  "downloadUrl": "https://.../harlow.pdf",
  "opinionId": 111278,
  "snippet": "Government officials performing discretionary functions...",
  "absoluteUrl": "https://www.courtlistener.com/opinion/111278/harlow-v-fitzgerald/"
}
```

### Input

| Field | Type | Description |
|-------|------|-------------|
| `mode` | string | `opinions` (search case law) or `courts` (list courts). |
| `query` | string | Full-text search over opinions. |
| `type` | string | `o` opinions, `r` RECAP dockets, `p` judges, `oa` oral args. |
| `court` | string | Court id, e.g. `scotus`, `ca9`. |
| `filedAfter` / `filedBefore` | string | Date range, `YYYY-MM-DD`. |
| `orderBy` | string | e.g. `dateFiled desc`, `score desc`, `citeCount desc`. |
| `jurisdiction` | string | For `courts` mode, e.g. `F` (federal appellate), `S` (state). |
| `token` | string (secret) | Optional CourtListener token for higher limits. |
| `maxResults` | integer | Cap on rows (default 100). |

### Example input

```json
{
  "query": "qualified immunity",
  "court": "scotus",
  "filedAfter": "2015-01-01",
  "orderBy": "dateFiled desc",
  "maxResults": 50
}
```

List federal courts with `{"mode":"courts","jurisdiction":"F","maxResults":50}`.

### Why this actor

- **Largest free US legal corpus** — CourtListener's v4 search with proper **cursor pagination**, so you get whole result sets, not just the first page.
- **The filters that matter** — full-text query, court, filed-after/before, ordering by relevance/date/citation count.
- **Clean normalized rows** — citations, docket, judge, snippet and PDF link, suited to research and citation graphs.

### Auth

Works **keyless**. Supplying an optional CourtListener `token` (free account at courtlistener.com) raises rate limits for larger jobs. Leave it empty to run without one.

### Pricing

Pay per result — **$5 per 1,000 results** (one result = one opinion/case, or one court in courts mode). No subscription; you pay only for what you get.

### Notes & limits

- Public data from the Free Law Project; you are responsible for compliant use. Not affiliated with CourtListener/Free Law Project.

### Related actors

- **Congress.gov Scraper** — US bills, laws and members.
- **eCFR Scraper** — US Code of Federal Regulations section text.
- **Australia Legislation Scraper** — Australian federal Acts and instruments.

# Actor input Schema

## `mode` (type: `string`):

"opinions" = search case law; "courts" = list courts.

## `query` (type: `string`):

Full-text search over opinions, e.g. "qualified immunity" or a party name.

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

CourtListener search type: o=opinions, r=RECAP dockets, p=people/judges, oa=oral arguments.

## `court` (type: `string`):

Court id to restrict to, e.g. "scotus", "ca9", "ca1". Use mode=courts to list ids.

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

Only opinions filed on/after this date, e.g. "2020-01-01".

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

Only opinions filed on/before this date, e.g. "2024-12-31".

## `orderBy` (type: `string`):

e.g. "score desc" (relevance), "dateFiled desc", "dateFiled asc", "citeCount desc".

## `jurisdiction` (type: `string`):

For mode=courts: filter by jurisdiction, e.g. "F" (federal appellate), "S" (state).

## `token` (type: `string`):

Optional CourtListener token for higher rate limits (free at courtlistener.com). Leave empty to run keyless. Kept secret.

## `maxResults` (type: `integer`):

Cap on number of results returned.

## Actor input object example

```json
{
  "mode": "opinions",
  "query": "qualified immunity",
  "type": "o",
  "maxResults": 100
}
```

# 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 = {
    "query": "qualified immunity"
};

// Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
const run = await client.actor("ponderable_hydrometer/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 '<YOUR_API_TOKEN>' with your token.
client = ApifyClient("<YOUR_API_TOKEN>")

# Prepare the Actor input
run_input = { "query": "qualified immunity" }

# Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
run = client.actor("ponderable_hydrometer/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 '{
  "query": "qualified immunity"
}' |
apify call ponderable_hydrometer/courtlistener-scraper --silent --output-dataset

```

## MCP server setup

```json
{
    "mcpServers": {
        "apify": {
            "command": "npx",
            "args": [
                "mcp-remote",
                "https://mcp.apify.com/?tools=ponderable_hydrometer/courtlistener-scraper",
                "--header",
                "Authorization: Bearer <YOUR_API_TOKEN>"
            ]
        }
    }
}

```

## OpenAPI specification

Download the OpenAPI definition: https://api.apify.com/v2/actors/J58saV7aacoUE929b/builds/uMWWML6qJcsMsGVBu/openapi.json