Oral Argument Transcripts are Now on CourtListener!
We’re thrilled to introduce the latest upgrade to CourtListener: transcripts for oral arguments!
CourtListener already hosts the largest collection of oral argument audio online—over 3.2 million minutes (and counting). Now, thanks to our partnership with OpenAI, we’re making these recordings even more powerful. With today’s release, you can now search them, set alerts, and even follow along line-by-line with the transcripts.
Audio recordings are a vital part of the legal record. By making them searchable, we’re helping lawyers, researchers, journalists, and the public dive deeper into the legal process with greater speed and ease than ever before.
We are proud that this feature enhances accessibility for the deaf and hard of hearing community, which includes hundreds of lawyers. The Interim Chief Executive Officer at the National Association of the Deaf, Bobbie Beth Scoggins, Ed.D., had this to say:
The release of transcripts for oral arguments on CourtListener represents a significant advancement in accessibility. The Deaf and Hard of Hearing community deserves the opportunity to understand and participate in legal discussions fully. We’re grateful for Free Law Project’s efforts to make this critical resource available to all.
🔍 How to Use the New Transcripts Feature
It’s simple!
Search the Oral Arguments collection on CourtListener.
- Try searching for “Miranda rights” to find cases where it was mentioned in court.
- Want to follow a specific law or topic? Search for the Medicaid statute, or anything else of interest.
Set alerts or subscribe via podcast.
- Click the bell icon to get email updates whenever your search terms come up in future arguments.
- Click the podcast icon to create a custom podcast feed.
Explore the transcript.
- Click on any result to access the audio, metadata, and the transcript.
- You can read along, or use CTRL+F to find key phrases.
- Want to hear a specific moment? Just click a line in the transcript—the audio will jump right to that point.
🎧 Where Does the Audio Come From?
We collect new audio hourly from the Supreme Court and Federal Circuit Courts, and we’ve also gathered a huge archive from past sessions. We’re working with courts to expand coverage even more—visit our Data Coverage page to see what’s included.
🚀 What’s Coming Next?
We’ve got more exciting innovations on the horizon:
- AI-Powered Citator: We’re building the first open-source tool to flag “bad law” using AI. See our Progress Report and our call for volunteers for the latest.
- Semantic Search: Soon you’ll be able to search based on meaning—not just keywords—making it easier to find what matters. First via API, then in CourtListener itself. Learn more here.
- Oral Arguments from States: We’re looking for volunteers to help expand our collection of oral arguments to include recordings from state court websites. If you have experience developing scrapers in Python and an interest in enhancing access to court data, email us at info@free.law!
This is just the beginning of what’s possible when we bring cutting-edge technology to public legal data. We hope you’ll explore the new features, and as always, we welcome your feedback!
