CourtListener is a free legal research platform operated by the Free Law Project, a nonprofit organization. Its mission is to make the law more accessible, which is admirable, but the side effect is that millions of court records are now indexed in Google and linked to real people's names. If you have ever been involved in a court case, there is a good chance CourtListener has a page with your name on it, and that page is probably ranking in search results.
We work with CourtListener removals regularly, and the good news is that the Free Law Project is one of the more cooperative platforms when it comes to honoring removal requests. Their response time is typically one to two weeks, and the success rate is high when you follow the right process.
What CourtListener Is and Why Your Record Appears There
CourtListener pulls data from PACER (the federal court system), RECAP (a browser extension that crowdsources federal filings), and various state court systems. It aggregates this information into a searchable database. Because the site has strong domain authority, CourtListener pages tend to rank well in Google, often appearing on the first page when someone searches your name.
This is not limited to criminal cases. Civil lawsuits, family court matters, bankruptcy filings, and even cases where you were a witness can all appear. The record does not need to be recent to cause problems. We have seen decades-old cases surface on CourtListener and create issues for people applying for jobs, seeking housing, or building professional relationships.
How to Request Removal from CourtListener
Step one: go to CourtListener.com and search for your name. Find the specific case page or pages that reference you. Copy the full URL of each page you want removed.
Step two: navigate to CourtListener's contact page and complete the removal request form. You can also visit the Free Law Project's removal request page for additional information about their privacy and removal policies.
Step three: submit your request with the specific URLs, your full name, and a clear explanation of why you are requesting removal. Be direct. You do not need to write a legal brief. Something like "I am requesting removal of this court record from CourtListener because it is causing reputational harm in my personal and professional life" is sufficient.
Step four: wait for a response. The Free Law Project typically responds within one to two weeks. In most cases, they will de-index the page, which means it will still exist on their platform but will no longer appear in Google search results. Full deletion is less common but sometimes possible depending on the circumstances.
Step five: once they confirm the de-indexing, monitor Google search results. The page may still appear in Google's cache for a few weeks. If it does not drop out within 30 days, you can use Google's removal tools to request cache removal, which speeds things up.
What to Do If Your Request Is Denied
Denials are uncommon with CourtListener, but they do happen, especially for high-profile cases or records that the Free Law Project considers important for public access. If your request is denied, you have a few options. You can provide additional context about the harm the listing is causing. You can work with an attorney to submit a more formal request. Or you can focus on suppressing the CourtListener page in Google results through other means while continuing to pursue removal.
Keep in mind that CourtListener is just one of several platforms that scrape and republish court records. Popular scraping sites include Justia, Trellis, UniCourt, PacerMonitor, DocketBird, and Casemine. Even after you remove your record from CourtListener, you will likely need to address these other sites as well. Our complete court record removal guide walks through the full workflow.
If you have tried these steps and are still stuck, or if you just do not have the time, we can help. Book a consultation or book court record removal services and we will take it from here.