HTML Content Format

HTML structure and format of opinion content.

The opinions.content table stores the full text of court opinions in HTML format. This page documents the structure and conventions used.

HTML Elements

Page Numbers

Page numbers from the original document are preserved with a special span:

<span class="page-number" data-page="5">5</span>

Page markers can appear inside paragraphs where page breaks occur in the source document.

Block Quotes

Indented quotations use the standard blockquote element:

<blockquote>
  <p>The court held that "no genuine issue of material fact exists."</p>
</blockquote>

Footnotes

Footnote references in the text:

<sup class="footnote-ref" data-footnote-number="1">
  <a href="#footnote-1">[1]</a>
</sup>

Footnote content at the end of the document:

<div class="footnotes">
  <div class="footnote" id="footnote-1" data-footnote-number="1">
    <sup>1</sup> See generally 28 U.S.C. § 1331.
  </div>
</div>

Header Block

Court documents often begin with cover pages containing case captions, attorney listings, procedural history, and jurisdiction statements—sometimes spanning up to 4 pages before the substantive opinion begins. This preliminary content is wrapped in a collapsible details element, making it easy to skip to the actual opinion.

<details class="header-block">
  <summary>Case details</summary>
  <p>UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE NINTH CIRCUIT</p>
  <p>No. 22-35000</p>
  <p>SMITH, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. JONES, Defendant-Appellee</p>
  <p>Appeal from the United States District Court...</p>
  <p>Before: JUDGES A, B, and C, Circuit Judges.</p>
</details>

Multi-Opinion Cases

When a case contains multiple opinions (majority, concurrence, dissent), they are concatenated into a single HTML document.

Separator

<br/><br/><hr/><br/><br/>

Opinion Headers

<h2 class="midpage-opinion-header">Dissenting Opinion</h2>

Opinion Types