Sample Searches and URLs for United States Courts Opinions

The United States Courts Opinions can be searched using the Simple Search Box and the Advanced Search page. Once results are displayed, you can narrow your search results by clicking on links in the Narrow Your Search panel on the left hand side of the page. The sections under Narrow Your Search correspond to the metadata available for the documents. United States Courts Opinions specific links to narrow your search results will be displayed after you click on United States Courts Opinions under the Collection category.

Retrieve by Citation search can be used to retrieve a single United States Courts Opinions document in PDF format if you know the Year, Title Number, Type and Section Number of the document. The United States Courts Opinions can also be browsed in the Browse Government Publications area.

The following sections give examples of searches that you may want to use for the United States Courts Opinions collection in FDsys.

Searching United States Courts Opinions by Court Type

These examples will search for District Court opinions.

Using the Simple Search Box, enter one of the following

collection:uscourts courttype:district
collection:uscourts and courttype:district

Using the Advanced Search page,

Select United States Courts Opinions from Available Collections
Click Add to add United States Courts Opinions to the Selected Collections box
Select Court Type from Search in
Select District from Court Type pull down menu

Searching United States Courts Opinions by Court Name

These examples will search for opinions from the United States Bankruptcy Court Southern District of Florida.

Using the Simple Search Box, enter one of the following

collection:uscourts courtname:"United States Bankruptcy Court Southern District of Florida"
collection:uscourts and courtname:"United States Bankruptcy Court Southern District of Florida"

Using the Advanced Search page,

Select United States Courts Opinions from Available Collections
Click Add to add United States Courts Opinions to the Selected Collections box
Select Court Name from Search in
Select United States Bankruptcy Court Southern District of Florida from the Court Name pull down menu

Searching United States Courts Opinions by Title

These examples will search for opinions with "hatch" in the title.

Using the Simple Search Box, enter one of the following

collection:uscourts title:hatch
collection:uscourts and title:hatch

Using the Advanced Search page,

Select United States Courts Opinions from Available Collections
Click Add to add United States Courts Opinions to the Selected Collections box
Select Title from Search in
Enter hatch in the textbox marked for

Searching United States Courts Opinions by Case Number

These examples will search for opinions with "1:01-bk-13984" as the Case Number.

Using the Simple Search Box, enter one of the following

collection:uscourts casenumber:(1:01-bk-13984)
collection:uscourts and casenumber:(1:01-bk-13984)

Using the Advanced Search page,

Select United States Courts Opinions from Available Collections
Click Add to add United States Courts Opinions to the Selected Collections box
Select Case Number from Search in
Enter 1:01-bk-13984 in the textbox marked for

Searching United States Courts Opinions by Party Name

These examples will search for opinions with "hatch" as one of the party names.

Using the Simple Search Box, enter one of the following

collection:uscourts partyname:hatch
collection:uscourts and partyname:hatch

Using the Advanced Search page,

Select United States Courts Opinions from Available Collections
Click Add to add United States Courts Opinions to the Selected Collections box
Select Party Name from Search in
Enter hatch in the textbox marked for

Searching United States Courts Opinions by Docket Text

These examples will search for opinions with "judge lisi" in the docket text.

Using the Simple Search Box, enter one of the following

collection:uscourts dockettext:(judge lisi)
collection:uscourts and dockettext:(judge lisi)

Using the Advanced Search page,

Select United States Courts Opinions from Available Collections
Click Add to add United States Courts Opinions to the Selected Collections box
Select Docket Text from Search in
Enter judge lisi in the textbox marked for

Sample United States Courts Opinions URLs

FDsys uses two key pieces of information to construct predictable URLs to documents and the More Information pages. The Package ID is used to identify an individual case in the United States Courts Opinions collection. The Granule ID is used to identify individual opinions within each case.

Identifier

Structure/Metadata Field

Examples

Package ID

USCOURTS-{Court Code}-{Case Number}

Note:Any colons (:) in the Case Number are converted to underscores (_).

USCOURTS-meb-2_10-ap-02064

Granule ID

{Package ID}-{Sequence Number}

USCOURTS-meb-2_10-ap-02064-0

For a list of Court Codes, visit United States Courts Opinions Metadata Fields and Values.

More Information Page for a Case

Structure: http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/{Package ID}/content-detail.html

Example: http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/USCOURTS-meb-2_10-ap-02064/content-detail.html

More Information Page for an Opinion

Structure: http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/granule/{Package ID}/{Granule ID}/content-detail.html

Example: http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/granule/USCOURTS-meb-2_10-ap-02064/USCOURTS-meb-2_10-ap-02064-0/content-detail.html

PDF File for an Opinion

Structure: http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/{Package ID}/pdf/{Granule ID}.pdf

Example: http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/USCOURTS-meb-2_10-ap-02064/pdf/USCOURTS-meb-2_10-ap-02064-0.pdf

G P O ' S F E D E R A L D I G I T A L S Y S T E M