GET /v1/legal/search/
Changed onSearch legal documents by document type, or across all document types using keywords, parameter values and ranges. This endpoint uses opensearch-dsl pagination.For pagination, use both from_hit and hits_returned parameters. from_hit defines the offset from the first result you want to fetch. hits_returned allows you to configure the maximum results to be returned. By default from_hit = 0 and hits_returned = 20, endpoint will return the first 20 documents (i.e. 0 to 19). if set from_hit = 20 and hits_returned = 20, endpoint will return documents range from 21 to 40 (i.e. 20 to 39). The maximum value of hits_returned is 200.
Request
- Base URLhttps://api.open.fec.gov (the document declares no server; this is the origin it was published from)
- AuthAPI key in header X-Api-Key and API key in query parameter api_key and API key in query parameter api_key
- TypeScriptA function with typed inputs. Its response is checked against the schema.
Query parameters
Search field to find documents containing a word or phrase in their text.
Get results starting from this index
Number of results to return. The default value is 20, with a maximum limit of 200 results per page
Choose a legal document type: advisory_opinions, murs, admin_fines, statutes, or adrs
Advisory opinion number
Advisory opinion year
Advisory opinion name
Earliest issue date of advisory opinion
Latest issue date of advisory opinion
Earliest request date of advisory opinion
Latest request date of advisory opinion
Selects all advisory opinion documents dated on or after this date. Date must be formatted as MM/DD/YYYY or YYYY-MM-DD."
Selects all advisory opinion documents dated on or before this date. Date must be formatted as MM/DD/YYYY or YYYY-MM-DD."
Category of the document F - Final Opinion V - Votes D - Draft Documents R - AO Request, Supplemental Material, and Extensions of Time W - Withdrawal of Request C - Comments and Ex parte Communications S - Commissioner Statements
AO is pending
Status of AO (pending, withdrawn, or final)
The requestor of the advisory opinion
Code of the advisory opinion requestor type. Select one or more codes to filter by advisory opinion requestor type: - 1 - Federal candidate/candidate committee/officeholder - 2 - Publicly funded candidates/committees - 3 - Party committee, national - 4 - Party committee, state or local - 5 - Nonconnected political committee - 6 - Separate segregated fun - 7 - Labor Organization - 8 - Trade Association - 9 - Membership Organization, Cooperative, Corporation W/O Capital Stocks - 10 - Corporation (including LLCs electing corporate status) - 11 - Partnership (including LLCs electing partnership status) - 12 - Governmental entity - 13 - Research/Public Interest/Educational Institution - 14 - Law Firm - 15 - Individual - 16 - Other
Regulatory citations
Statutory citations
Require all citations to be in document (default behavior is any)
Name of commenter
Name of representative
Enforcement matter case number
Cases respondents
Cases election cycles
The earliest date opened of case
Primary Subject Description: - 1 - Allocation - 2 - Committees - 3 - Contributions - 4 - Disclaimer - 5 - Disbursements - 6 - Electioneering - 7 - Expenditures - 8 - Express Advocacy - 9 - Foreign Nationals - 10 - Fraudulent misrepresentation - 11 - Issue Advocacy - 12 - Knowing and Willful - 13 - Loans - 14 - Non-federal - 15 - Other - 16 - Personal use - 17 - Presidential - 18 - Reporting - 19 - Soft Money - 20 - Solicitation
Secondary Subject Description: - 1 - Candidate - 2 - Multi-candidate - 3 - Non-party - 4 - PAC - 5 - Party - 6 - Political - 7 - Presidential - 8 - Corporations - 9 - Excessive - 10 - Exemptions - 11 - In the name of another - 12 - Labor unions - 13 - Limitations - 14 - National bank - 15 - Prohibited - 16 - Coordinated - 17 - Limits - 18 - Prohibitions
The latest date opened of case
The earliest date closed of case
The latest date closed of case
Selects all case documents dated on or after this date. Date must be formatted as MM/DD/YYYY or YYYY-MM-DD."
Selects all case documents dated on or before this date. Date must be formatted as MM/DD/YYYY or YYYY-MM-DD."
Regulatory citations
Statutory citations
Require all citations to be in document (default behavior is any)
Exclude documents containing this term
Select one or more case document category id to filter by corresponding case document category: - 1 - Conciliation and Settlement Agreements - 2 - Complaint, Responses, Designation of Counsel and Extensions of Time - 3 - General Counsel Reports, Briefs, Notifications and Responses - 4 - Certifications - 5 - Civil Penalties, Disgorgements, Other Payments and Letters of Compliance - 6 - Statement of Reasons - 1001 - ADR Settlement Agreements - 1002 - Complaint, Responses, Designation of Counsel and Extensions of Time - 1003 - ADR Memoranda, Notifications and Responses - 1004 - Certifications - 1005 - Civil Penalties, Disgorgements, Other Payments and Letters of Compliance - 1006 - Statement of Reasons - 2001 - Administrative Fine Case
Type of MUR : current or archived
Select one or more MUR disposition category id to filter by corresponding MUR disposition category: - 1 - Conciliation: Pre Probable Cause - 2 - Conciliation: Probable Cause - 3 - Dismiss with Caution - 4 - Dismissed-All - 5 - Dismissed-Low Rated - 6 - Dismissed-Other - 7 - Dismissed-Stale - 8 - Dismiss Pursuant to Prosecutorial Discretion - 9 - No Probable Cause to Believe - 10 - No Reason to Believe - 11 - Probable Cause to Believe Finding - 12 - Probable Cause to Believe Finding/No Further Action - 13 - Reason to Believe Finding - 14 - Reason to Believe Finding/No Further Action - 15 - Take No Action - 16 - Take No Further Action
Admin fine committee name
Admin fine committee ID
Admin fine report year
The earliest Reason to Believe date
The latest Reason to Believe date
Reason to Believe fine amount
The earliest Final Determination date
The latest Final Determination date
Final Determination fine amount
Sort cases (MUR, ADR, and AF) by case_no. Sort advisory opinions by ao_no or issue_date. Use - before a parameter name to sort in descending order. ex: -case_no or -ao_no
Show cases with a penalty greater than this amount
Show cases with a penalty less than this amount
This search identifies documents where the specified phrases appear near each other. The field supports both a single phrase or multiple phrases. For a single phrase, the maximum gap is applied between the words in the phrase. For multiple phrases, the maximum gap is applied between the phrases themselves.
The maximum number of positions allowed between terms specified in q_proximity
When set to true, maintains the original order of phrases in q_proximity.
Adds additional filters to the proximity search that provides options to specify positional constraints
Specifies the term to which the proximity_filter option applies to and defines what must appear in relation to the q_proximity phrase
Search documents by file name
API key for https://api.data.gov. Get one at https://api.data.gov/signup.
Response
Legal search results
Example response
{
"admin_fines": [],
"adrs": [],
"advisory_opinions": [
{
"ao_citations": [
{
"name": "Dart & Kraft",
"no": "1986-42"
}
],
"aos_cited_by": [
{
"name": "Service Corporation Employees' Political Action Committee",
"no": "2014-11"
}
],
"commenter_names": [],
"document_highlights": {
"1": [
"officer's willful theft, \n\n<em>embezzlement</em> or act of comparable"
]
},
"documents": [
{
"category": "Draft Documents",
"date": "2012-06-18T00:00:00",
"description": "Draft AO, Agenda Document",
"document_id": 1234,
"url": "/files/legal/some_number.pdf"
}
],
"entities": [
{
"name": "Keane, Benjamin",
"role": "Counsel/Representative",
"type": "Individual"
},
{
"name": "Primerica, Inc.",
"role": "Requestor",
"type": "Corporation (including LLCs electing corporate status)"
}
],
"highlights": [
"officer's willful theft, \n\n<em>embezzlement</em> or act of comparable"
],
"is_pending": false,
"issue_date": "2012-06-21",
"name": "Primerica, Inc.",
"no": "2012-21",
"regulatory_citations": [
{
"part": 100,
"section": 5,
"title": 11
},
{
"part": 110,
"section": 3,
"title": 11
}
],
"representative_names": [
"Doe, John"
],
"request_date": "2012-05-14",
"requestor_names": [
"Acme, Inc."
],
"requestor_types": [
"Law Firm",
"Corporation (including LLCs electing corporate status)"
],
"status": "Final",
"statutory_citations": [
{
"section": "30108",
"title": 52
},
{
"section": "30116",
"title": 52
}
],
"summary": "Disaffiliation of corporations and their SSFs."
}
],
"murs": [
{
"close_date": "2018-03-01T00:00:00",
"commission_votes": [
{
"action": "\nThe Commission decided by a vote of 4-0 to take the following actions in MUR 7132:\n1. Accept the conciliation agreement with Michael David Pitts, as recommended in the Memorandum to the Commission\ndated February 14, 2018.\n2. Approve the appropriate letter.\n3. Close the file.\n",
"vote_date": "2018-03-01T00:00:00"
},
{
"action": "\nThe Commission decided by a vote of 4-1 to take the following actions in \nPre-MUR 596 and MUR 7132:\n1. Transfer Pre-MUR 596 to the Office of Alternative Dispute Resolution.\n2. Find reason to believe that Michael David Pitts knowingly and willfully violated 52 U.S.C. § 30102(b)(3) and\n11 C.F.R. § 102.15.\n3. Enter into pre-probable cause conciliation with Michael David Pitts prior to a finding of probable cause to believe.\n4. Approve the Conciliation Agreement for Michael David Pitts, as recommended in the First General Counsel’s Report\ndated March 6, 2017.\n5. Approve the Factual and Legal Analysis for Michael David Pitts, as recommended in the First General Counsel’s\nReport dated March 6, 2017.\n6. Approve the appropriate letter.\n",
"vote_date": "2017-05-10T00:00:00"
}
],
"dispositions": [
{
"citations": [
{
"text": "30102(b)(3)",
"title": "52",
"type": "statute",
"url": "https://www.govinfo.gov/link/uscode/52/30102"
},
{
"text": "102.15",
"title": "11",
"type": "regulation",
"url": "/regulations/102-15/CURRENT"
}
],
"disposition": "Approved by Commission",
"penalty": null,
"respondent": "Pitts, Michael David"
},
{
"citations": [
{
"text": "30102(b)(3)",
"title": "52",
"type": "statute",
"url": "https://www.govinfo.gov/link/uscode/52/30102"
},
{
"text": "102.15",
"title": "11",
"type": "regulation",
"url": "/regulations/102-15/CURRENT"
}
],
"disposition": "Approved Recs.",
"penalty": null,
"respondent": "Pitts, Michael David"
}
],
"doc_id": "mur_7132",
"document_highlights": {},
"documents": [
{
"category": "Conciliation Agreements",
"description": "Michael David Pitts",
"document_date": "2018-03-19T00:00:00",
"document_id": 100488383,
"length": 181804,
"url": "/files/legal/murs/7132/18044440286.pdf"
},
{
"category": "Complaint, Responses, Designation of Counsel and Extensions of Time",
"description": "Consent to Extend the Time to Institute a Civil Law Enforcement Suit",
"document_date": "2017-06-12T00:00:00",
"document_id": 100488382,
"length": 36491,
"url": "/files/legal/murs/7132/18044440271.pdf"
}
],
"election_cycles": [
2014
],
"highlights": [
" to carry out his <em>embezzlement</em> scheme. ",
" is prohibited by law. 6. Pitts sought to conceal the <em>embezzlement</em> by under",
" execute his various <em>embezzlements</em>. That month, Mr. Pitts also transferred",
" that was used to carry out his <em>embezzlement</em> scheme. Pitts also did not ",
" the <em>embezzlement</em> by under-reporting the transfer of payroll deductions from"
],
"mur_type": "current",
"name": "MICHAEL DAVID PITTS",
"no": "7132",
"open_date": "2016-09-01T00:00:00",
"participants": [
{
"citations": {},
"name": "Pitts, Michael David",
"role": "Primary Respondent"
},
{
"citations": {},
"name": "AMEDISYS, INC.",
"role": "Complainant"
}
],
"respondents": [
"Pitts, Michael David",
"Evergreen Incentives LLC"
],
"subjects": [
"Committees-Candidate",
"Other"
],
"url": "/legal/matter-under-review/7132/"
}
],
"statutes": [],
"total_admin_fines": null,
"total_adrs": null,
"total_advisory_opinions": 1,
"total_all": 3,
"total_murs": 2,
"total_statutes": 0
}Changes
- info
added the new optional
queryrequest parameterao_year
- info
- info
added the new optional
queryrequest parameterfilename - info
added the new optional
queryrequest parameterproximity_preserve_order
- info