Citator

Understand how cases have been treated by subsequent courts.

The Midpage citator analyzes how opinions cite and treat other opinions, providing signals about whether a case remains good law and how it has been interpreted over time.

Authoritative Citations

The citator is run on authoritative citations only. A citation is considered authoritative when it comes from:

Higher courts — Appellate courts citing district court decisions, supreme courts citing appellate decisions
Same court — A court citing its own prior decisions

This focus on authoritative citations ensures the treatment signals are legally meaningful. Citations from lower courts or courts in different jurisdictions are tracked in the opinion_relations table but do not receive treatment analysis.

Treatment Data

Each citator entry includes:

Field	Description
`treatment_category`	High-level classification (e.g., "positive", "negative", "neutral", "caution")
`treatment_description`	Detailed explanation of how the citing opinion treats the cited opinion
`is_authoritative`	Boolean indicating if this is an authoritative citation
`supporting_quote`	Excerpt from the citing opinion supporting the treatment classification
`citing_id`	Opinion ID of the case doing the citing

Accessing Citator Data

REST API

Include include_detailed_treatments: true in your /opinions/get request:

{
  "opinion_ids": ["145875"],
  "include_detailed_treatments": true
}

Response includes a treatments array for each opinion:

{
  "opinions": [{
    "id": "145875",
    "case_name": "Ashcroft v. Iqbal",
    "treatments": [
      {
        "citing_id": "8623588",
        "treatment_category": "positive",
        "treatment_description": "Followed and applied the plausibility standard",
        "is_authoritative": true,
        "supporting_quote": "Under Iqbal, a complaint must contain sufficient factual matter..."
      }
    ]
  }]
}

SQL

Query the opinion_relations table directly:

SELECT 
  citing_id,
  treatment_category,
  treatment_description,
  supporting_quote
FROM opinions.opinion_relations
WHERE cited_id = '145875'
  AND is_authoritative = true
ORDER BY citing_id DESC;

Use Cases

Case validation — Check if a case has been overruled or limited
Research — Find cases that follow or distinguish a key precedent
Citation analysis — Understand how courts have interpreted specific holdings