How to Find a Specific Federal Court on uscourts.gov

Updated

Use the Find a Federal Court tool on uscourts.gov to locate a specific court by name, state, or circuit. From there you can reach the individual court's website and contact details. This works for anyone who knows roughly which court they need—by geography, by circuit, or by court name—but not the exact page or address.

Start With the Court Finder

The uscourts.gov homepage lists Find a Federal Court in its main navigation, alongside Find a Form. The court finder is the intended entry point for locating a specific court rather than browsing the site's general sections.

What you need before you start

  • A court name, if you know it (for example, a district or bankruptcy court).
  • Or a state, if you only know where the case or filing is located.
  • Or a circuit, if you are looking for an appellate court.

You do not need an account or login to browse court information on the site.

Search by Name, State, or Circuit

The finder supports three practical approaches:

If you know… Use this approach What you get
The court's name Search by court name The specific court's page and link to its own website
The state where the matter is filed Browse by state The federal courts serving that state
The appellate circuit Browse by circuit The Court of Appeals for that circuit

Step-by-step

  1. Open uscourts.gov and select Find a Federal Court from the main menu.
  2. Choose your search path: court name, state, or circuit.
  3. Select the court from the results.
  4. On the court's page, follow the link to the individual court website for local rules, filing information, and contact details.

Expected result: you land on a page for that specific court, with a route to its own site and contact information.

Access Individual Court Websites and Contact Details

Each court maintains its own website, separate from the national uscourts.gov site. The national site's court pages act as a directory: they identify the court and point you to the local site, where you will find:

  • Local rules and standing orders
  • Filing and case information specific to that court
  • Clerk's office contact details and location

If your goal is to file or check a case, go through the individual court's site rather than the national pages.

Common Stops

  • Court name is ambiguous. District and bankruptcy courts often share a state name. Confirm which type of court you need before selecting.
  • You only know the city. The finder organizes by state and circuit, not by city, so identify the state first.
  • You need national rules, not a court. The site's Current Rules of Practice and Procedure section links to the national federal rules and forms—use that instead of the court finder.

Related Resources on the Same Site

The homepage also surfaces material that helps you understand the court you found:

  • Court Role and Structure and About Federal Judges for how the courts are organized
  • Judiciary News for current announcements, including operational disruptions
  • Judicial Business of the United States for annual federal court data

For most people, the court finder is the only step needed: pick the court, open its page, and continue to the court's own website for filing and contact information.