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Opinions

Court opinions with full text and metadata.

Opinion

Individual judicial opinion.

interface Opinion {
  id: number;
  author_id?: number | null;
  author?: string;
  author_str?: string;
  per_curiam?: boolean;
  joined_by?: any[];
  joined_by_str?: string;
  type?: string;
  sha1?: string;
  page_count?: number;
  download_url?: string;
  local_path?: string;
  plain_text?: string;
  html?: string;
  html_lawbox?: string;
  html_columbia?: string;
  xml_harvard?: string;
  html_with_citations?: string;
  extracted_by_ocr?: boolean;
  opinions_cited?: any[];
  cluster_id?: number;
  cluster?: string;
  absolute_url?: string;
}

Key Properties

Property Type Description
id number Unique opinion identifier
author_str string? Author name
per_curiam boolean? Per curiam opinion
type string? Opinion type code
plain_text string? Plain text content
html string? HTML formatted content
cluster_id number? Parent cluster ID

OpinionCluster

Group of related opinions (e.g., majority + dissent).

interface OpinionCluster {
  id: number;
  case_name?: string;
  case_name_short?: string;
  date_filed?: string;
  date_filed_is_approximate?: boolean;
  slug?: string;
  case_name_full?: string;
  scdb_id?: string;
  scdb_decision_direction?: number;
  scdb_votes_majority?: number;
  scdb_votes_minority?: number;
  source?: string;
  procedural_history?: string;
  attorneys?: string;
  nature_of_suit?: string;
  posture?: string;
  syllabus?: string;
  citation_count?: number;
  precedential_status?: string;
  date_blocked?: string;
  blocked?: boolean;
  court_id?: string;
  court?: string;
  docket_id?: number;
  docket?: string | number;
}

Key Properties

Property Type Description
id number Cluster identifier
case_name string? Case name
date_filed string? Decision date
citation_count number? Times cited
precedential_status string? Published/Unpublished
court_id string? Court identifier
docket_id number? Related docket

Endpoints

Get Opinion

GET /api/rest/v4/opinions/{id}/

import type { Opinion } from '@types/lawforge__courtlistener';

async function getOpinion(id: number): Promise<Opinion> {
  const res = await fetch(
    `https://www.courtlistener.com/api/rest/v4/opinions/${id}/`,
    { headers: { Authorization: `Token ${TOKEN}` } }
  );
  return res.json();
}

const opinion = await getOpinion(12345);
console.log(opinion.plain_text?.substring(0, 500));

Get Opinion Cluster

GET /api/rest/v4/clusters/{id}/

import type { OpinionCluster } from '@types/lawforge__courtlistener';

async function getCluster(id: number): Promise<OpinionCluster> {
  const res = await fetch(
    `https://www.courtlistener.com/api/rest/v4/clusters/${id}/`,
    { headers: { Authorization: `Token ${TOKEN}` } }
  );
  return res.json();
}

const cluster = await getCluster(67890);
console.log(`${cluster.case_name} - ${cluster.citation_count} citations`);

Text Formats

Opinions are available in multiple formats:

Property Format Description
plain_text Plain Raw text extraction
html HTML Basic HTML formatting
html_lawbox HTML Lawbox processing
html_columbia HTML Columbia Law School
xml_harvard XML Harvard XML format
html_with_citations HTML With linked citations

Example

import type { Opinion, OpinionCluster } from '@types/lawforge__courtlistener';

async function getFullOpinion(clusterId: number): Promise<{
  cluster: OpinionCluster;
  opinions: Opinion[];
}> {
  const API = 'https://www.courtlistener.com/api/rest/v4';

  const [clusterRes, opinionsRes] = await Promise.all([
    fetch(`${API}/clusters/${clusterId}/`, { headers }),
    fetch(`${API}/opinions/?cluster=${clusterId}`, { headers })
  ]);

  const cluster: OpinionCluster = await clusterRes.json();
  const { results: opinions } = await opinionsRes.json();

  return { cluster, opinions };
}

const { cluster, opinions } = await getFullOpinion(12345);

// Find majority opinion
const majority = opinions.find(o => o.type === '020lead');