README.md

---
license: cc0-1.0
language:
- en
task_categories:
- text-retrieval
- tabular-classification
size_categories:
- 10M<n<100M
pretty_name: US Dockets (case metadata)
tags:
- legal
- law
- dockets
- us-courts
- pacer
- recap
- court-records
- public-domain
- legal-nlp
- legal-research
configs:
- config_name: all
  data_files: data/*/*.jsonl.gz
  default: true
- config_name: federal-district
  data_files: data/federal-district/*.jsonl.gz
- config_name: federal-appellate
  data_files: data/federal-appellate/*.jsonl.gz
- config_name: federal-bankruptcy
  data_files: data/federal-bankruptcy/*.jsonl.gz
- config_name: federal-special
  data_files: data/federal-special/*.jsonl.gz
- config_name: scotus
  data_files: data/scotus/*.jsonl.gz
- config_name: state
  data_files: data/state/*.jsonl.gz
- config_name: territorial
  data_files: data/territorial/*.jsonl.gz
- config_name: tribal
  data_files: data/tribal/*.jsonl.gz
- config_name: other
  data_files: data/other/*.jsonl.gz
dataset_info:
- config_name: all
  features:
  - name: id
    dtype: string
  - name: doc_type
    dtype: string
  - name: jurisdiction
    dtype: string
  - name: court
    dtype: string
  - name: court_id
    dtype: string
  - name: tier
    dtype: string
  - name: title
    dtype: string
  - name: docket_number
    dtype: string
  - name: date_filed
    dtype: string
  - name: date_terminated
    dtype: string
  - name: cause
    dtype: string
  - name: nature_of_suit
    dtype: string
  - name: assigned_to
    dtype: string
  - name: source
    dtype: string
  - name: license
    dtype: string
  - name: retrieved_at
    dtype: string
  - name: extra
    dtype: string
- config_name: federal-district
  features:
  - name: id
    dtype: string
  - name: doc_type
    dtype: string
  - name: jurisdiction
    dtype: string
  - name: court
    dtype: string
  - name: court_id
    dtype: string
  - name: tier
    dtype: string
  - name: title
    dtype: string
  - name: docket_number
    dtype: string
  - name: date_filed
    dtype: string
  - name: date_terminated
    dtype: string
  - name: cause
    dtype: string
  - name: nature_of_suit
    dtype: string
  - name: assigned_to
    dtype: string
  - name: source
    dtype: string
  - name: license
    dtype: string
  - name: retrieved_at
    dtype: string
  - name: extra
    dtype: string
- config_name: federal-appellate
  features:
  - name: id
    dtype: string
  - name: doc_type
    dtype: string
  - name: jurisdiction
    dtype: string
  - name: court
    dtype: string
  - name: court_id
    dtype: string
  - name: tier
    dtype: string
  - name: title
    dtype: string
  - name: docket_number
    dtype: string
  - name: date_filed
    dtype: string
  - name: date_terminated
    dtype: string
  - name: cause
    dtype: string
  - name: nature_of_suit
    dtype: string
  - name: assigned_to
    dtype: string
  - name: source
    dtype: string
  - name: license
    dtype: string
  - name: retrieved_at
    dtype: string
  - name: extra
    dtype: string
- config_name: federal-bankruptcy
  features:
  - name: id
    dtype: string
  - name: doc_type
    dtype: string
  - name: jurisdiction
    dtype: string
  - name: court
    dtype: string
  - name: court_id
    dtype: string
  - name: tier
    dtype: string
  - name: title
    dtype: string
  - name: docket_number
    dtype: string
  - name: date_filed
    dtype: string
  - name: date_terminated
    dtype: string
  - name: cause
    dtype: string
  - name: nature_of_suit
    dtype: string
  - name: assigned_to
    dtype: string
  - name: source
    dtype: string
  - name: license
    dtype: string
  - name: retrieved_at
    dtype: string
  - name: extra
    dtype: string
- config_name: federal-special
  features:
  - name: id
    dtype: string
  - name: doc_type
    dtype: string
  - name: jurisdiction
    dtype: string
  - name: court
    dtype: string
  - name: court_id
    dtype: string
  - name: tier
    dtype: string
  - name: title
    dtype: string
  - name: docket_number
    dtype: string
  - name: date_filed
    dtype: string
  - name: date_terminated
    dtype: string
  - name: cause
    dtype: string
  - name: nature_of_suit
    dtype: string
  - name: assigned_to
    dtype: string
  - name: source
    dtype: string
  - name: license
    dtype: string
  - name: retrieved_at
    dtype: string
  - name: extra
    dtype: string
- config_name: scotus
  features:
  - name: id
    dtype: string
  - name: doc_type
    dtype: string
  - name: jurisdiction
    dtype: string
  - name: court
    dtype: string
  - name: court_id
    dtype: string
  - name: tier
    dtype: string
  - name: title
    dtype: string
  - name: docket_number
    dtype: string
  - name: date_filed
    dtype: string
  - name: date_terminated
    dtype: string
  - name: cause
    dtype: string
  - name: nature_of_suit
    dtype: string
  - name: assigned_to
    dtype: string
  - name: source
    dtype: string
  - name: license
    dtype: string
  - name: retrieved_at
    dtype: string
  - name: extra
    dtype: string
- config_name: state
  features:
  - name: id
    dtype: string
  - name: doc_type
    dtype: string
  - name: jurisdiction
    dtype: string
  - name: court
    dtype: string
  - name: court_id
    dtype: string
  - name: tier
    dtype: string
  - name: title
    dtype: string
  - name: docket_number
    dtype: string
  - name: date_filed
    dtype: string
  - name: date_terminated
    dtype: string
  - name: cause
    dtype: string
  - name: nature_of_suit
    dtype: string
  - name: assigned_to
    dtype: string
  - name: source
    dtype: string
  - name: license
    dtype: string
  - name: retrieved_at
    dtype: string
  - name: extra
    dtype: string
- config_name: territorial
  features:
  - name: id
    dtype: string
  - name: doc_type
    dtype: string
  - name: jurisdiction
    dtype: string
  - name: court
    dtype: string
  - name: court_id
    dtype: string
  - name: tier
    dtype: string
  - name: title
    dtype: string
  - name: docket_number
    dtype: string
  - name: date_filed
    dtype: string
  - name: date_terminated
    dtype: string
  - name: cause
    dtype: string
  - name: nature_of_suit
    dtype: string
  - name: assigned_to
    dtype: string
  - name: source
    dtype: string
  - name: license
    dtype: string
  - name: retrieved_at
    dtype: string
  - name: extra
    dtype: string
- config_name: tribal
  features:
  - name: id
    dtype: string
  - name: doc_type
    dtype: string
  - name: jurisdiction
    dtype: string
  - name: court
    dtype: string
  - name: court_id
    dtype: string
  - name: tier
    dtype: string
  - name: title
    dtype: string
  - name: docket_number
    dtype: string
  - name: date_filed
    dtype: string
  - name: date_terminated
    dtype: string
  - name: cause
    dtype: string
  - name: nature_of_suit
    dtype: string
  - name: assigned_to
    dtype: string
  - name: source
    dtype: string
  - name: license
    dtype: string
  - name: retrieved_at
    dtype: string
  - name: extra
    dtype: string
- config_name: other
  features:
  - name: id
    dtype: string
  - name: doc_type
    dtype: string
  - name: jurisdiction
    dtype: string
  - name: court
    dtype: string
  - name: court_id
    dtype: string
  - name: tier
    dtype: string
  - name: title
    dtype: string
  - name: docket_number
    dtype: string
  - name: date_filed
    dtype: string
  - name: date_terminated
    dtype: string
  - name: cause
    dtype: string
  - name: nature_of_suit
    dtype: string
  - name: assigned_to
    dtype: string
  - name: source
    dtype: string
  - name: license
    dtype: string
  - name: retrieved_at
    dtype: string
  - name: extra
    dtype: string
---

# US Dockets — the case-level record

> **Code & tools:** [github.com/docketx](https://github.com/docketx) — [legal-scrambler](https://github.com/docketx/legal-scrambler) pseudonymises a case file on your own hardware before a frontier model sees it; [claude-for-legal](https://github.com/docketx/claude-for-legal) is the Claude Code plugin (`docketx-open-law`) that loads these datasets and checks citations against them.

**34,290,148 docket records** from 2,289 U.S. courts: the case, the court, the
number, the dates, the judge. This is the *index* of American litigation — what was filed, where, when
and by whom it was decided.

## Source & credit — Free Law Project / CourtListener

Every docket in this dataset comes from the **Free Law Project / CourtListener bulk export of
2026-06-30**. CourtListener gathered, cleaned, deduplicated and published that record;
[Free Law Project](https://free.law) — the 501(c)(3) non-profit behind it, building free public access
to American law since 2010 — pays for it. We reshaped and sharded; they did the hard part.
Go to the source: <https://www.courtlistener.com>.

**Free Law Project is a non-profit, and it is worth supporting: <https://free.law/donate/>.**
If this data is useful to you, credit Free Law Project and CourtListener too, and consider going
straight to the source: CourtListener runs its own
[API and MCP server](https://wiki.free.law/c/courtlistener/help/api).

## What a docket row IS — and what it is NOT

**A docket row is metadata about a case.** Case name, court, docket number, filing date, termination
date, cause of action, nature of suit, assigned judge, and the CourtListener URL for the case.

**A docket row is NOT the filings.** There are no complaints, no motions, no briefs, no orders, no
exhibits, no opinions here. In the federal courts those documents live behind **PACER**, which charges
per page; the RECAP Archive at CourtListener holds the subset that users have paid for and donated.
**Nobody has them all** — not Free Law Project, not us, not any commercial vendor. Anyone who tells you
their corpus contains "all court filings" is describing something that does not exist.

**A docket is not a "case" in the sense a citation is.** One dispute can carry several dockets (trial,
appeal, consolidated, MDL member cases), and a docket can be opened and closed without producing a
single published decision. **Do not quote a docket count as a count of cases, of lawsuits, or of
decisions.** For decisions, use [`docketx/us-caselaw`](https://huggingface.co/datasets/docketx/us-caselaw).

**A docket row is not the whole docket sheet.** The chronological list of entries — "12/03 Motion to
dismiss filed" — is a separate CourtListener table and is not in this dataset.

## Privacy — what we removed, and why

Docket metadata names private individuals. CourtListener carries a `blocked` flag on each docket,
which it sets when the record should be kept out of search-engine indexes; in this export the flag is
applied at scale to **consumer bankruptcy**, where the party is an ordinary person and the subject is
their insolvency.

**We excluded every `blocked` docket: 37,369,473 rows.** Publishing them here — in a
dataset that is indexed, bulk-downloadable and read by model trainers — would defeat exactly the
protection the source applied. They are not hidden: they remain in Free Law Project's own bulk export
and on CourtListener, for anyone with a reason to have them.

| tier | blocked rows excluded |
|---|--:|
| `federal-bankruptcy` | 36,838,967 |
| `federal-appellate` | 254,144 |
| `state` | 253,356 |
| `federal-special` | 15,838 |
| `federal-district` | 5,631 |
| `other` | 1,525 |
| `scotus` | 10 |
| `territorial` | 2 |

We checked every column of the source table for fields that should not be redistributed. **There are
no Social Security numbers, dates of birth, addresses or juvenile-matter markers in the schema**; the
only privacy control the source carries is the `blocked` flag described above, and we honoured it. We
also dropped CourtListener's internal operational columns (`view_count`, Internet Archive upload paths
and retry counters, index timestamps), which say nothing about the case.

## Malformed rows at source

18,026 rows of the source CSV carry an unescaped `"` inside a text field, which
shifts every following column — a party's mailing address lands in the docket-number column, and so on.
We detected these by an impossible `court_id` — values like `f`, `1988`, `0`, ` Inc.` — and **dropped
them rather than publish shifted values**. They are not in any config and not in this repo: because the
shift also scrambles the `blocked` column, we cannot tell which of them the source had marked private,
so they are excluded on that ground too. The check is reproducible from the source export: a row whose
`court_id` is absent from `courts-2026-06-30.csv.bz2` is one of these.

## Composition — measured, per tier

| tier | config | dockets | courts |
|---|---|--:|--:|
| U.S. District Courts | `federal-district` | 23,795,525 | 124 |
| U.S. Courts of Appeals | `federal-appellate` | 1,341,708 | 112 |
| U.S. Bankruptcy Courts | `federal-bankruptcy` | 27,619 | 100 |
| Federal special courts (Claims, CIT, Tax, Vet. App., FISC …) | `federal-special` | 1,605,763 | 34 |
| Supreme Court of the United States | `scotus` | 589,547 | 1 |
| State courts (supreme, appellate, trial, special) | `state` | 6,841,279 | 1,843 |
| U.S. territories | `territorial` | 63,006 | 14 |
| Tribal courts | `tribal` | 2,138 | 42 |
| Military, international and committee dockets | `other` | 23,563 | 19 |
| **total** | `all` | **34,290,148** | **2,289** |

Every number on this page was counted from the files in `data/` — none is estimated, and none is taken
from any upstream total. Read from the source export: **71,677,647** rows.

The record is **federal-heavy**, and that is a property of the world, not of this dataset: PACER gives
CourtListener a machine-readable feed for every federal court, while most state trial courts publish
no bulk docket data at all. A state absent from a count is one with no open feed, not one withheld.

## The viewer, and why two configs preview partially

Hugging Face converts each config to parquet up to a **5 GB in-memory ceiling**, measured here rather
than assumed: `federal-district` stopped at 5,001,023,741 bytes and `all` at 5,003,462,887. So in the
browser those two show a partial preview — `federal-district` previews 7,490,694 of its
23,795,525 rows, `all` previews 7,596,221 of 34,290,148.

**Nothing is missing from the data.** `load_dataset` and a plain download read every shard; the cap
applies only to the browsable parquet preview. The other **eight configs convert completely**, and
every one of their converted row counts matches the count measured on our own files exactly:
`state` 6,841,279 · `federal-special` 1,605,763 · `federal-appellate` 1,341,708 · `scotus` 589,547 ·
`territorial` 63,006 · `federal-bankruptcy` 27,619 · `other` 23,563 · `tribal` 2,138.

We kept the tier sharding rather than splitting the federal district courts further, because the
alternatives — by circuit, by state — are not in the source table (CourtListener gives every district
court the same `parent_court_id`, `usdistct`), and we do not add facts the source does not carry.
Files are held at about 100 MB each, 40 in total, which is the size the converter handles comfortably.

## Format

Rows follow **docketx record v1**, one docket per line, **every column a string**:

`id`, `doc_type` (`docket`), `jurisdiction`, `court`, `court_id`, `tier`, `title`, `docket_number`,
`date_filed`, `date_terminated`, `cause`, `nature_of_suit`, `assigned_to`, `source`, `license`,
`retrieved_at`, `extra`.

`extra` is a JSON **string** — parse it with `json.loads` — carrying everything else the source
exposed: the case-name variants, `docket_number_core`, `pacer_case_id`, jury demand, MDL status,
appellate fee status, the cert/argument dates, the panel and referral strings, and the
CourtListener judge ids (`assigned_to_id`, `referred_to_id`) which join to
[`docketx/us-judges`](https://huggingface.co/datasets/docketx/us-judges).

`jurisdiction` is the two-letter state code for state courts and `us` for federal ones; use `court_id`
and `court` to narrow further (e.g. `nysd` = District Court, S.D. New York).

## Load it

```python
from datasets import load_dataset

ds  = load_dataset("docketx/us-dockets")                       # every tier
fd  = load_dataset("docketx/us-dockets", "federal-district")   # one tier
tx  = ds["train"].filter(lambda r: r["jurisdiction"] == "tx")  # one state
```

## Provenance and license

U.S. court records are works of government and carry no copyright (*Banks v. Manchester*, 128 U.S. 244
(1888); *Georgia v. Public.Resource.Org*, 590 U.S. 255 (2020)). This packaging is released under
CC0 1.0. Source: CourtListener bulk export of 2026-06-30, Free Law Project — https://free.law. This
dataset redistributes public-record metadata; it adds no annotation and asserts no rights.

Part of the [DocketX](https://docketx.ai) open legal corpus, alongside
`docketx/us-caselaw` (10.8M opinions), `docketx/us-judges`, `docketx/court-rules`,
`docketx/us-statutes` and `docketx/oral-arguments-us`.