Reporting on New York City: Courts

The New York State Unified Court System is the judicial branch of New York State government. Within New York City, there are two citywide courts—Criminal Court and Civil Court that hear lesser charges—as well as multiple statewide courts. The Supreme Court of the State of New York is the trial court in New York (unlike most other places, where the Supreme Court is the top court—in New York, that is the Court of Appeals).

Learn more from New York City Courts, New York Courts Structure, and New York State Courts: An Introductory Guide.

Court records for state cases can be found from:

• WebCivil Local: Case information for New York State Local Civil Courts.
• WebCivil Supreme: Case information for New York State Supreme Courts (in New York, the Supreme Courts are trial courts!).
• WebCriminal: Overviews of criminal cases (Summary, Charges, Appearances, Motions) for cases only in which a future court appearance is scheduled. Does not include dockets.
• New York State Courts Electronic Filing (NYSCEF): Full dockets, with PDF documents, from courts that are authorized for e-filing. Click "Search as Guest" to begin, and then search by Party Name or Case Number.

State courts are generally to the public (certain cases, such as juvenile cases, are closed for privacy or other reasons). See the New York Open Courts Compendium from the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press for more information on court access. Use the Court Locator to find information on individual courts. Court calendars are available on the court websites or through eCourts; a New York City Court Calendar (listing a few prominent cases being heard that day) is available through the AP Daybook.

The U.S. federal system is made up of trial courts and appellate courts. The trial courts are called district courts, and there are 94 total with at least one per state and territory. The appellate courts are termed circuit courts and there are 13 total. The Supreme Court is the court of final appeal for both state and federal courts.

There are four federal district courts in New York State, two of which cover New York City: the Eastern District of New York includes Kings County (Brooklyn), Queens County (Queens), and Richmond County (Staten Island), while the Southern District of New York includes Bronx County (Bronx) and New York County (Manhattan). For appellate cases, New York is covered by the Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit.

Court records for federal cases can be found from:

• If researching a current or recent federal case, check the website of the court where the case is being heard for any relevant materials. Individual court websites may include written opinions as well as other documents or proceedings, such as oral argument audio or video (some offer live streaming!). They sometimes also have a section of the website labeled as “Cases of Interest” or “Notable Cases,” where docket entries or trial exhibits may be posted for cases with significant media interest.
• PACER: The U.S. federal government’s official system for court records filed in all federal district, appellate, and bankruptcy courts. Anyone can create a Case Search account, but it is not free to search (although charges below $30/quarter are waived) and it is not keyword searchable.
• RECAP: CourtListener's RECAP Archive is a searchable archive of federal court filings from PACER that is widely used by journalists (RECAP = PACER backwards). While RECAP is not comprehensive—PACER has over one billion documents while RECAP includes in the tens of millions, and may not be up-to-date—it is a great starting point for finding dockets and documents and is fully searchable by keyword. RECAP is free and easy to use, with no account required.
• Nexis Uni: A legal, business, and news database that includes the written opinions—the judge’s statement explaining the decision—for U.S. federal and state court cases (and some international courts) as well as select court filings for U.S. federal cases. Select Cases > U.S. from the dropdown to search.