> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://vaquill.ai/docs/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Case Law Research

> Search millions of US court cases with Boolean operators and filters

Search millions of cases across US federal and state courts using natural language, Boolean operators, or citation strings.

<Frame caption="A cited authority with its exact source text">
  <img src="https://mintcdn.com/vaquill/NNZLwmIqu4MrnJz-/images/research-2.png?fit=max&auto=format&n=NNZLwmIqu4MrnJz-&q=85&s=eb70d9dddb68bfc5895e434434184cde" alt="A cited authority expanded to its exact source text, with the supporting citations listed" style={{ borderRadius: '0.5rem' }} width="2672" height="1534" data-path="images/research-2.png" />
</Frame>

## Search Methods

### Natural Language

Describe what you're looking for:

> *"Cases where the court discussed qualified immunity in excessive force claims"*

### Boolean Operators

| Operator | Example                               | Effect                 |
| -------- | ------------------------------------- | ---------------------- |
| `AND`    | `murder AND conviction`               | Both terms must appear |
| `OR`     | `negligence OR malpractice`           | Either term can appear |
| `NOT`    | `appeal NOT dismissed`                | Excludes the term      |
| `"..."`  | `"beyond reasonable doubt"`           | Exact phrase           |
| `( )`    | `(murder OR homicide) AND conviction` | Grouped conditions     |

### Citation Lookup

Search by citation string directly:

> *"410 U.S. 113"*

Citation strings are resolved in Bluebook and standard US reporter formats.

## Filters

<CardGroup cols={2}>
  <Card title="Jurisdiction" icon="globe">
    US federal and state courts
  </Card>

  <Card title="Court" icon="landmark">
    Specific courts or tribunals (e.g. SCOTUS, 9th Circuit, state supreme courts)
  </Card>

  <Card title="Year / Date range" icon="calendar">
    Cases from a particular period
  </Card>

  <Card title="Judge" icon="user-tie">
    Cases authored or joined by a specific judge
  </Card>
</CardGroup>

## Result Fields

Every search result returns:

* **Case title and citation** - all known citation strings
* **Court and date**
* **Judges** - bench composition
* **Relevance score** - 0 to 1, calibrated per query
* **Snippet** - matching passage from the judgment with the query terms highlighted

<Tip>
  Filter by **Court** first to cut noise. A query for *"qualified immunity"* against all US courts returns thousands of opinions; the same query scoped to **9th Circuit, 2020-present** is immediately practitioner-ready.
</Tip>

## Ready-to-run prompt

<Prompt description="**Doctrine survey** - find the leading cases on a doctrine, group by circuit, flag splits." icon="scale-balanced" iconType="solid" actions={["copy"]}>
  Use Vaquill case law search to do a doctrine survey on **qualified immunity for excessive-force claims under 42 USC 1983**.

  Do these steps:

  1. Boolean search the US corpus: `"qualified immunity" AND "excessive force" AND "1983"`.
  2. Scope to federal appellate decisions from the last 10 years.
  3. Group results by circuit. For each circuit, list the 2-3 most cited or most recent decisions.
  4. Flag any **circuit split** explicitly - quote the disagreement language from the relevant opinions.
  5. Identify the leading Supreme Court authority and confirm its treatment status (still good law, distinguished, or eroded).

  End with a one-paragraph practitioner takeaway suitable for a brief: which circuits are most plaintiff-favorable today, and what is the live question heading to SCOTUS?
</Prompt>

## Related

<CardGroup cols={2}>
  <Card title="Citations" icon="quote-left" href="/docs/guides/citations">
    Resolve, search, and traverse the citation network.
  </Card>

  <Card title="Citation Graph" icon="diagram-project" href="/docs/guides/citation-graph">
    Walk the forward and backward citation graph from any case.
  </Card>

  <Card title="Deep Research" icon="brain" href="/docs/guides/deep-research">
    Multi-hop reasoning when the answer needs more than one search.
  </Card>

  <Card title="Agent Mode" icon="robot" href="/docs/guides/agent-mode">
    Autonomous research across cases, statutes, and the web.
  </Card>
</CardGroup>