Courts and Coverage

Every judge in your plan is checked against three rule layers: FRCP (15 national rules), Local Rules (district-specific rules), and Standing Orders (judge-specific rules extracted from each judge’s chambers standing order). Every judge profile is verified against the original standing order PDF.

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Three rule layers

Each layer overrides and adds to the one above. FRCP is the national baseline. Local Rules layer on district-specific requirements. Standing Orders are the most specific and carry the highest rejection risk because they’re the hardest to find and track.

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FRCP (applies to every judge)

15 rules covering captions, signatures, privacy redactions, motion content, discovery conferral, and summary judgment requirements. These are national rules, identical regardless of judge or district.

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Local Rules (applies to every judge in the district)

District-specific local rules covering formatting (font, margins, spacing), word limits, filing timing, required documents, and letter motions. The number of local rules varies by district.

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Standing Orders (judge-specific)

Judge-specific rules extracted from individual chambers standing orders. These cover:

• Page limits: judge-specific page limits that may differ from district word limits
• Courtesy copies: whether required, format, and timing
• Pre-motion conferences: whether required before filing, letter format, exemptions
• Filing gates: whether all papers must be fully briefed before docketing
• Bundling: whether motion, opposition, and reply must be filed together
• Briefing schedules: whether changes require court approval

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District access

The API covers 20+ courts (630 judges) and 6 state court systems in beta. Which courts you can query depends on your plan.

• GET /api/v1/courts returns all available districts. Districts outside your plan return 403 Forbidden when queried.
• State court endpoints require beta access. Contact api@courtrules.app to enable state courts on your plan.

The console dashboard shows all districts and state courts with their judge counts. Districts not in your plan appear locked with an upgrade prompt.

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State courts (beta)

State court rules are available in beta for six high-volume jurisdictions: State court data includes judge rosters, local filing rules, and court-specific procedures. Contact api@courtrules.app for beta access.

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How this appears in the API

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GET /api/v1/rules

Returns all three rule layers for a judge, including synthesized standing order rules. Returns 403 if the judge’s district is not in your plan.

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POST /api/v1/check

Checks a document against all three rule layers: page/word limits, formatting, structural requirements, privacy redactions, PMC requirements, filing gates, bundling, and courtesy copies. Returns 403 if the judge’s district is not in your plan.