A docket is a summary report of court proceedings in a specific case. The docket will generally include basic case information, such as the identities of parties to the case, attorneys, and presiding judge, as well as a log of events and associated dates in the progression of the case, such as hearings, motions, and rulings.
Each court maintains its own docket and jurisdictions differ as to how much information is available to the public online. Some jurisdictions have free online docket systems, some allow for downloading documents associated with recorded events (e.g., rulings, motions, and transcripts), some require payment or a subscription to a database to access dockets, and some provide no docket information online at all.
The Public Access to Court Electronic Records (PACER) system, maintained by the Federal Judiciary, provides access to federal appellate, district, and bankruptcy court dockets via a centralized service. There is a per-page charge based on the number of pages resulting from your search and each requested report or document. Court Listener's RECAP is a free resource that collects dockets sheets and documents downloaded by PACER users and makes them publicly available.
Bloomberg Law (available to Loyola Law students and faculty via the Law Library's subscription) maintains docket coverage for all federal courts and, once a document is retrieved by a user via Bloomberg law, subsequent users do not have to pay to access that document (whereas PACER requires payment each time a document is downloaded). Bloomberg Law has generally been the preferred method for federal docket retrieval for the Loyola Law community but Westlaw and Lexis CourtLink both provide full federal docket coverage.
Free access to the United States Supreme Court docket and case materials can be found at the official United States Supreme Court website, (2001-present) and at SCOTUSblog, (2007 - present).
Loyola Law students and faculty can also access some historical Supreme Court docket materials (petitions, briefs in opposition, amicus briefs, etc.) via the Law School Library's subscription to Gale's Making of Modern Law: U.S. Supreme Court Records and Briefs (1832-1978).
Loyola Law students and faculty can utilize Bloomberg Law, Westlaw, and Lexis to search and access state court dockets, but please note that state docket coverage is spotty across these platforms.
If you are unable to find a case docket in any of these databases, the next step is to visit the website or contact the Clerk of Court for the jurisdiction in which the case is being heard. The National Center for State Courts contains links to most state court websites. When deciding the court in which to search for a case docket, be aware that state court systems can be structured differently and that court names are not consistent across all states (for instance, New York's Supreme Court is a court of original jurisdiction and its highest court is called The Court of Appeals). If a court's docket is only available in person, contact the Clerk of Court in advance to determine cost and any other logistics you should be prepared for or rules you must comply with.
The Illinois State Supreme Court docket and some high profile Illinois Appellate Court case dockets are available online at the Illinois Courts website. Here you can also find the websites for Illinois Circuit Courts and the contact information for Circuit Court Clerks. Cook County provides online case information for its Civil, Law, Chancery, and Domestic Relations/Child Support divisions.
