Federal Courts

These resources offer access to federal court dockets but generally do not offer access to full-text court filings.

Free Resources

Justia Docket Search
Justia provides a free searchable index of federal cases, dockets and filings from U.S. District Courts and U.S. Courts of Appeal. Coverage is 2004-present.

Court Listener: RECAP Archive
The Court Listener website provides free access to millions of federal trial and appellate court documents and dockets from the 1980s to the present from the federal government’s PACER service.

Subscription Resources

Westlaw (Westlaw password required)

• Federal Dockets – docket information on active and inactive civil and criminal cases filed in U.S. District Courts, U.S. Courts of Appeal and U.S. Bankruptcy Courts. Coverage varies by jurisdiction.

Lexis (Lexis password required)

• Federal Dockets – docket information for cases filed in the U.S. District Courts, U.S. Courts of Appeal, and U.S. Bankruptcy Courts. Coverage varies by jurisdiction.

These resources offer access to both federal court dockets and full-text court filings including petitions, briefs, motions, and orders.

Free Resources

PACER
PACER (Public Access to Court Electronic Records) is an electronic public access service that allows users to obtain case and docket information from Federal Appellate, District and Bankruptcy courts.  Creating an account in PACER is free, as is viewing judicial opinions, but accessing other court filings incurs a $0.10/page fee. However, users who incur less than $15 in charges in any quarterly cycle will not be charged a fee, making up to 150 pages a quarter free. Coverage varies by jurisdiction.

Subscription Resources

Bloomberg Law (Bloomberg Law password required)
Bloomberg Law’s docket search provides access to federal and selected state dockets as well as electronically available full-text filings. Coverage varies by jurisdiction, but for the federal courts it is generally 1989-present. When logged in to Bloomberg Law, a Docket Coverage Map is available that offers coverage details by jurisdiction.

Westlaw (Westlaw password required)

• U.S. Supreme Court Briefs and Petitions - select merit and amicus briefs, as well as petitions for writ of certiorari, filed in the U.S. Supreme Court. Select brief coverage begins with 1930; select petitions coverage begins with 1985.
• U.S. Courts of Appeals Briefs – briefs filed in the U.S. Circuit Courts of Appeals. Selected coverage begins in 1997. 
• U.S. Tax Court Briefs & Petitions - coverage begins with 1999.

Lexis (Lexis password required)

• Briefs, Pleadings, and Motions – court filings from both federal and state courts. Coverage varies by jurisdiction.
• CourtLink - state and federal court dockets and court filings. Coverage varies by jurisdiction.