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Written Opinions and Notices

E-Government/Written Opinions:
In compliance with the policy of the Judicial Conference of the United States, and the E-Government Act of 2002, all Written Opinions are avaliable through PACER, and may be downloaded at no charge.
 
GovInfo U.S. Courts Opinions
 
The Government Publishing Office (GPO) provides access to court opinions from the District of Montana as well as other federal, appellate, district, bankruptcy and national judicial opinions through GovInfo.  More information about the U.S. Courts Opinions and detailed instructions for searching the collection are posted on GovInfo’s U.S. Courts Opinions help page and on the this page.
 
The instructions below describe search strategies to target judicial opinions from the District of Montana on GovInfo:
Search by Court Name
  • Using Basic Search, enter courtname:(United States District Court District of Montana)
Search by Court Code
  • Using Basic Search, enter courtcode:mtd
Other Search Strategies
Multiple metadata field operators can be combined when searching.  For example, courtcode:mtd publishdate:range(2020,2026) would yield judicial opinions from the District of Montana from between 2020 and 2026.  More information about using keywords and search operators are posted on GovInfo’s help page.
  • The basic search box (first tab on search widget, all pages) uses keywords and search operators.  Apply specific filters and sorting to target your search further over certain content, fields or other criteria.

     
  • The advanced search box uses a form to help target the search using special criteria such as circuit or state.

     
  • The browse tab navigates to specific content such as A-Z or Category pages.
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Additional tips and tricks for finding information are posted on GovInfo’s United States Courts Opinions help page.  This page is linked from the United States Courts Opinions browse page and also every single opinion’s Details page (located under Actions to the left).
 
Search by Judge
Example: opinions with "judge __" in the docket text.
Note: Inclusion of judge in docket text is inconsistent across courts.
  • Using Basic Search, enter: collection:uscourts dockettext:(judge __).
  • Using Advanced Search, select United States Courts Opinions under Refine by Collection, then under Search In, select Docket Text from the first box and enter judge __ in the free text box.
Search by Code Section
Example: opinions that reference code section "11 U.S.C. 347(b)" in the full text.
Search by Case Name
Example: opinions with case name "A.G.A. Flowers, Inc." in the title field.
Search by Case Number
Example: opinions with "1:01-bk-13984" as the Case Number.
Search by Keyword
Example: opinions with keyword “deference” in the full text.
  • Using Basic Search, enter: collection:uscourts deference.
  • Using Advanced Search, select United States Courts Opinions under Refine by Collection, then under Search In, select Full-Text from the first box and enter deference in the free text box.
Search by Order Title
Example: opinions with the phrase "memorandum opinion and order sanctioning" in the docket text.