# CourtListener API: Search case law

> Searches CourtListener US court opinions by keywords or case name, with optional court, decision dates and sorting.

Unofficial. Not affiliated with or endorsed by CourtListener.

- Page: https://fous.com/methods/courtlistener.com/search-case-law
- Method: `courtlistener.com/search_case_law`, version 1
- Website: courtlistener.com
- Returns: case name, court, decision date, citations, docket number, judges, snippet, times cited, status, link
- Effect: read (it gets data and changes nothing)
- Sign-in: none needed
- Cost: 1 credit per completed run (1¢ with pay as you go); failed runs are free

## Inputs

| Field | Type | Required | In the run below | Description |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| `page` | integer | no | `2` | Result page to start with, for example 2. Each page contains up to 20 cases. Default 1. |
| `sort` | string | no | `"newest"` | Order results by relevance, newest, oldest, or most cited; for example newest. One of "relevance", "newest", "oldest", "most_cited". Default "relevance". |
| `court` | string | no | `"9th Circuit"` | Court name, such as Supreme Court, 9th Circuit, or California; leave blank for all courts. Default "". |
| `query` | string | yes | `"fair use software"` | Keywords or a case name, for example Miranda v. Arizona. |
| `max_results` | integer | no | `22` | Maximum cases to return, for example 20 (up to 50). Default 20. |
| `decided_after` | string | no |  | Earliest decision date, for example 2015-01-01. |
| `decided_before` | string | no |  | Latest decision date, for example 2020-12-31. |

## Output

From a run on Oct 23, 2026, shortened. Its input:

```json
{
  "page": 2,
  "sort": "newest",
  "court": "9th Circuit",
  "query": "fair use software",
  "max_results": 22
}
```

Its output:

```json
{
  "cases": [
    {
      "link": "https://www.courtlistener.com/opinion/10660890/popa-v-microsoft-corporation/",
      "court": "Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit",
      "judges": null,
      "snippet": "action against Microsoft Corporation concerning the use of session-replay technology. Session-replay",
      "case_name": "Popa v. Microsoft Corporation",
      "citations": [],
      "cluster_id": 10660890,
      "times_cited": 0,
      "date_decided": "2025-08-26",
      "docket_number": "24-14",
      "precedential_status": "Published"
    },
    {
      "link": "https://www.courtlistener.com/opinion/10658061/island-industries-inc-v-sigma-corporation/",
      "court": "Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit",
      "judges": null,
      "snippet": "exported to the United States at less than their fair value. 19 U.S.C. § 1673. Commerce issues antidumping",
      "case_name": "Island Industries, Inc. v. Sigma Corporation",
      "citations": [],
      "cluster_id": 10658061,
      "times_cited": 0,
      "date_decided": "2025-08-21",
      "docket_number": "22-55063",
      "precedential_status": "Published"
    },
    {
      "link": "https://www.courtlistener.com/opinion/10646240/doe-1-v-twitter-inc/",
      "court": "Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit",
      "judges": null,
      "snippet": "230(a)–(b) (enumerating Congress’s objectives); Fair Hous. Council of San Fernando Valley v. Roommates",
      "case_name": "Doe 1 v. Twitter, Inc.",
      "citations": [],
      "cluster_id": 10646240,
      "times_cited": 0,
      "date_decided": "2025-08-01",
      "docket_number": "24-177",
      "precedential_status": "Published"
    }
  ]
}
```

## Run it

From code, with a Fous API key in `FOUS_API_KEY`; the answer's `data` holds the output:

```bash
curl https://api.fous.com/v1/runs \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $FOUS_API_KEY" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"method":"courtlistener.com/search_case_law","input":{"page":2,"sort":"newest","court":"9th Circuit","query":"fair use software","max_results":22}}'
```

From an AI agent connected to the Fous MCP server: its `run` with the same method and input. To connect one, give it `set up https://fous.com/SKILL.md`.

## Ask your agent

- Find federal appellate opinions about qualified immunity decided after 2018-01-01, sorted by most cited
- Look up Miranda v. Arizona and show the most cited cases citing it
- Search Supreme Court opinions on the Fourth Amendment warrantless cell phone searches, newest first
- Show 9th Circuit cases from 2010-06-01 to 2014-12-31 mentioning wrongful termination retaliation, page 2
- Find California court opinions on tenant eviction and security deposit disputes, oldest first, up to 35 results

## Input schema

```json
{
  "type": "object",
  "required": [
    "query"
  ],
  "properties": {
    "page": {
      "type": "integer",
      "default": 1,
      "minimum": 1,
      "description": "Result page to start with, for example 2. Each page contains up to 20 cases."
    },
    "sort": {
      "enum": [
        "relevance",
        "newest",
        "oldest",
        "most_cited"
      ],
      "type": "string",
      "default": "relevance",
      "description": "Order results by relevance, newest, oldest, or most cited; for example newest."
    },
    "court": {
      "type": "string",
      "default": "",
      "description": "Court name, such as Supreme Court, 9th Circuit, or California; leave blank for all courts."
    },
    "query": {
      "type": "string",
      "description": "Keywords or a case name, for example Miranda v. Arizona."
    },
    "max_results": {
      "type": "integer",
      "default": 20,
      "maximum": 50,
      "minimum": 1,
      "description": "Maximum cases to return, for example 20 (up to 50)."
    },
    "decided_after": {
      "type": "string",
      "description": "Earliest decision date, for example 2015-01-01."
    },
    "decided_before": {
      "type": "string",
      "description": "Latest decision date, for example 2020-12-31."
    }
  }
}
```

## Output schema

```json
{
  "type": "object",
  "required": [
    "cases"
  ],
  "properties": {
    "cases": {
      "type": "array",
      "items": {
        "type": "object",
        "required": [
          "case_name",
          "court",
          "date_decided",
          "citations",
          "docket_number",
          "judges",
          "snippet",
          "times_cited",
          "precedential_status",
          "link",
          "cluster_id"
        ],
        "properties": {
          "link": {
            "type": "string",
            "description": "CourtListener case page."
          },
          "court": {
            "type": [
              "string",
              "null"
            ],
            "description": "Deciding court."
          },
          "judges": {
            "type": [
              "string",
              "null"
            ],
            "description": "Judges as listed in the opinion."
          },
          "snippet": {
            "type": [
              "string",
              "null"
            ],
            "description": "Plain-text excerpt of matching opinion text."
          },
          "case_name": {
            "type": [
              "string",
              "null"
            ],
            "description": "Name of the case."
          },
          "citations": {
            "type": "array",
            "items": {
              "type": "string"
            },
            "description": "Reported citations."
          },
          "cluster_id": {
            "type": [
              "integer",
              "null"
            ],
            "description": "CourtListener opinion cluster ID."
          },
          "times_cited": {
            "type": [
              "integer",
              "null"
            ],
            "description": "Number of citations by other opinions."
          },
          "date_decided": {
            "type": [
              "string",
              "null"
            ],
            "description": "Decision date (YYYY-MM-DD)."
          },
          "docket_number": {
            "type": [
              "string",
              "null"
            ],
            "description": "Docket number."
          },
          "precedential_status": {
            "type": [
              "string",
              "null"
            ],
            "description": "Published or other status reported for this opinion."
          }
        }
      },
      "description": "Matching court opinions."
    }
  }
}
```

## See more

- [CourtListener API: Get court opinion](https://fous.com/methods/courtlistener.com/get-court-opinion.md): Finds a US court opinion on CourtListener by case name, citation, or opinion link, and returns its metadata, opinions, judges, citing-case count and the lead opinion's full text from its PDF.
- [CourtListener API: Search federal dockets by party](https://fous.com/methods/courtlistener.com/search-federal-dockets.md): Finds federal RECAP dockets involving a named person or company, newest filed first. Only dockets in the RECAP Archive appear.
- [The National Archives API: Search judgments](https://fous.com/methods/caselaw.nationalarchives.gov.uk/search-judgments.md): Searches UK court judgments and tribunal decisions on Find Case Law by keywords or party names. Results can be filtered by court and by judgment date.
- [Oyez API: List term cases](https://fous.com/methods/oyez.org/list-term-cases.md): Lists Oyez Supreme Court cases for a term, sorted by argument date then name. Decision dates and vote splits are blank where Oyez does not provide them.
- [Oyez API: Get Supreme Court case](https://fous.com/methods/oyez.org/get-supreme-court-case.md): Finds an Oyez Supreme Court case by name or case link and returns its summary, decision, justice votes and argument audio links.
- [loc.gov API: Search Library of Congress collections](https://fous.com/methods/loc.gov/search-collections.md): Searches Library of Congress digital collections by keywords, material format and date range, in Library search relevance order. Rights notes may be unavailable for some records.
- [loc.gov API: Search historic newspapers](https://fous.com/methods/loc.gov/search-historic-newspapers.md): Searches historic U.S. newspaper pages (Chronicling America) by text, with optional state and issue-year filters. Returns relevance-ranked page records with snippets and image links; newspaper OCR may contain transcription errors.
- [NPR API: Search news](https://fous.com/methods/npr.org/search-news.md): Searches NPR-published articles by keyword, newest first or by best match, with optional publication dates, and returns each article's date, authors, section and summary.
- [All CourtListener methods](https://fous.com/methods/courtlistener.com.md)