LawForge
ReferenceTools

extract_citations

Extract all legal citations from text

extract_citations

Pro

Extract all legal citations from a block of text. Useful for building citation lists, checking references, or analyzing briefs.

Parameters

ParameterTypeRequiredDescription
textstringYesText to extract citations from

Example Request

{
  "text": "The Supreme Court has long recognized that the First Amendment protects student speech. See Tinker v. Des Moines, 393 U.S. 503 (1969). However, this protection is not absolute. Bethel School District v. Fraser, 478 U.S. 675 (1986), established that schools may regulate vulgar speech. More recently, Mahanoy Area School District v. B.L., 594 U.S. 180 (2021), addressed off-campus speech."
}

Example Response

{
  "citations": [
    {
      "citation": "393 U.S. 503 (1969)",
      "case_name": "Tinker v. Des Moines",
      "reporter": "U.S.",
      "volume": 393,
      "page": 503,
      "year": 1969,
      "cluster_id": 107881,
      "valid": true
    },
    {
      "citation": "478 U.S. 675 (1986)",
      "case_name": "Bethel School District v. Fraser",
      "reporter": "U.S.",
      "volume": 478,
      "page": 675,
      "year": 1986,
      "cluster_id": 111669,
      "valid": true
    },
    {
      "citation": "594 U.S. 180 (2021)",
      "case_name": "Mahanoy Area School District v. B.L.",
      "reporter": "U.S.",
      "volume": 594,
      "page": 180,
      "year": 2021,
      "cluster_id": 4562891,
      "valid": true
    }
  ],
  "count": 3
}

Supported Citation Formats

  • Federal reporters: U.S., F.2d, F.3d, F.4th, S.Ct., L.Ed.
  • State reporters: Most state-specific reporters
  • Regional reporters: A.2d, N.E.2d, P.3d, etc.
  • Parallel citations: Multiple reporters for same case

Use Cases

  • Build a table of authorities
  • Validate citations in a brief
  • Create citation lists for research
  • Analyze citation patterns in legal documents

See Also

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