# 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, Lead generation
- **Stats:** 1 total users, 0 monthly users, 84.4% runs succeeded, 0 bookmarks
- **User rating**: No ratings yet
## Pricing
from $6.15 / 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 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
[](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
**📥 [Input](https://apify.com/scrapers_lat/courtlistener-scraper/input-schema) · 📤 [Output](https://apify.com/scrapers_lat/courtlistener-scraper/output-schema) · 💰 [Pricing](https://apify.com/scrapers_lat/courtlistener-scraper/pricing) · ▶️ [Examples](https://apify.com/scrapers_lat/courtlistener-scraper/examples)**
20+ fields per record
US federal & state coverage
JSON / CSV / Excel output formats
### 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 full citations including Lexis and Supreme Court Database references, the deciding judges and the opinion text. Dockets return the case timeline with every party, attorney, law firm and filed document, plus the court citation string and, for bankruptcy matters, the chapter and appointed trustee, 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.
### Example use cases
Ready-to-run example tasks, each preconfigured for a common scenario. Open one and press run, or use it as a template:
- [Qualified Immunity Court Opinions Search](https://apify.com/scrapers_lat/courtlistener-scraper/examples/cl-qualified-immunity-opinions): Search US court opinions on qualified immunity, with case names, citations, deciding court and opinion text snippets.
- [First Amendment Supreme Court Opinions](https://apify.com/scrapers_lat/courtlistener-scraper/examples/cl-first-amendment-scotus): Find US Supreme Court opinions on the First Amendment, with case names, citations, dates and opinion text snippets.
- [Patent Infringement Case Law Search](https://apify.com/scrapers_lat/courtlistener-scraper/examples/cl-patent-infringement-opinions): Search US court opinions on patent infringement, with case names, citations, deciding court and opinion text snippets.
- [Second Amendment Gun Rights Opinions](https://apify.com/scrapers_lat/courtlistener-scraper/examples/cl-second-amendment-gun-rights): Find US court opinions on Second Amendment gun rights, with case names, citations, court and opinion text snippets.
- [Employment Discrimination Case Law Search](https://apify.com/scrapers_lat/courtlistener-scraper/examples/cl-employment-discrimination-cases): Search US court opinions on employment discrimination, with case names, citations, court and opinion text snippets.
- [Copyright Fair Use Court Opinions Search](https://apify.com/scrapers_lat/courtlistener-scraper/examples/cl-copyright-fair-use-opinions): Find US court opinions on copyright fair use, with case names, citations, deciding court and opinion text snippets.
- [Miranda Rights Criminal Case Opinions](https://apify.com/scrapers_lat/courtlistener-scraper/examples/cl-miranda-rights-opinions): Search US court opinions on Miranda rights and custodial interrogation, with case names, citations and text snippets.
- [Ninth Circuit Immigration Court Opinions](https://apify.com/scrapers_lat/courtlistener-scraper/examples/cl-ninth-circuit-immigration): Find Ninth Circuit opinions on immigration law, with case names, citations, dates and opinion text snippets.
- [Abortion Rights Court Opinions Search](https://apify.com/scrapers_lat/courtlistener-scraper/examples/cl-abortion-rights-opinions): Search US court opinions on abortion rights, with case names, citations, deciding court and opinion text snippets.
- [Antitrust Federal Court Dockets Search](https://apify.com/scrapers_lat/courtlistener-scraper/examples/cl-antitrust-federal-dockets): Find US antitrust court dockets, with case timelines, parties, attorneys, law firms and filed documents per case.
### 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
## `maxRecords` (type: `integer`):
Maximum number of records (court opinions or dockets) 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
{
"maxRecords": 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 = {
"maxRecords": 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 = {
"maxRecords": 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 '{
"maxRecords": 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
Download the OpenAPI definition: https://api.apify.com/v2/acts/ebJJw6qdOnhKT40xc/builds/LxIdOGmkBNjR3y4aK/openapi.json