API Reference

Detailed documentation with code samples in JavaScript, Python, and curl.

Base URL

https://megalawusa.com

No authentication required. Rate limit: 100 requests per minute.

GET

/api/v1/statutes

Search and filter U.S. federal and state statutes. Returns statute summaries with metadata.

Parameters

Parameter	Type	Description
`jurisdiction`	string	Jurisdiction ID or abbreviation
`topic`	string	Topic keyword filter
`limit`	number	Results per page (default: 20, max: 100)
`offset`	number	Skip N results for pagination

Code Samples

curl

curl "https://megalawusa.com/api/v1/statutes?jurisdiction=federal&topic=civil-rights&limit=5"

JavaScript (fetch)

const res = await fetch(
  "https://megalawusa.com/api/v1/statutes?jurisdiction=federal&topic=civil-rights&limit=5"
);
const { data, meta } = await res.json();

console.log(`Found ${meta.total} statutes`);
data.forEach(s => {
  console.log(`${s.sectionNumber} — ${s.title}`);
});

Python (requests)

import requests

res = requests.get(
    "https://megalawusa.com/api/v1/statutes",
    params={"jurisdiction": "federal", "topic": "civil-rights", "limit": 5}
)
data = res.json()

print(f"Found {data['meta']['total']} statutes")
for s in data["data"]:
    print(f"{s['sectionNumber']} — {s['title']}")

Example Response

JSON

{
  "data": [
    {
      "id": "fed-cra-1964",
      "jurisdiction": "United States Federal",
      "jurisdictionId": "federal",
      "title": "Civil Rights Act of 1964 – Title VII",
      "titleNumber": "42",
      "sectionNumber": "§ 2000e",
      "status": "active",
      "effectiveDate": "1964-07-02",
      "topics": ["civil-rights", "labor"],
      "summary": "Employers cannot discriminate..."
    }
  ],
  "meta": { "total": 12, "limit": 5, "offset": 0, "hasMore": true }
}

GET

/api/v1/cases

Search and filter U.S. court cases. Supports filtering by jurisdiction, topic, and court level.

Parameters

Parameter	Type	Description
`jurisdiction`	string	Jurisdiction ID or name
`topic`	string	Topic keyword
`court`	string	Court name or level
`limit`	number	Results per page (default: 20, max: 100)
`offset`	number	Skip N results

Code Samples

curl

curl "https://megalawusa.com/api/v1/cases?court=supreme&topic=civil-rights&limit=5"

JavaScript (fetch)

const res = await fetch(
  "https://megalawusa.com/api/v1/cases?court=supreme&topic=civil-rights&limit=5"
);
const { data, meta } = await res.json();

data.forEach(c => {
  console.log(`${c.caseName} (${c.citation})`);
});

Python (requests)

import requests

res = requests.get(
    "https://megalawusa.com/api/v1/cases",
    params={"court": "supreme", "topic": "civil-rights", "limit": 5}
)
data = res.json()

for c in data["data"]:
    print(f"{c['caseName']} ({c['citation']})")

GET

/api/v1/bills

Search and filter legislative bills. Supports filtering by status, chamber, jurisdiction, and topic.

Parameters

Parameter	Type	Description
`jurisdiction`	string	Jurisdiction ID or name
`topic`	string	Topic keyword
`status`	string	Bill status (in_committee, passed_chamber, signed)
`chamber`	string	senate or house
`limit`	number	Results per page (default: 20, max: 100)
`offset`	number	Skip N results

Code Samples

curl

curl "https://megalawusa.com/api/v1/bills?jurisdiction=federal&status=in_committee&limit=5"

JavaScript (fetch)

const res = await fetch(
  "https://megalawusa.com/api/v1/bills?jurisdiction=federal&status=in_committee&limit=5"
);
const { data, meta } = await res.json();

data.forEach(b => {
  console.log(`${b.billNumber}: ${b.title} [${b.status}]`);
});

Python (requests)

import requests

res = requests.get(
    "https://megalawusa.com/api/v1/bills",
    params={"jurisdiction": "federal", "status": "in_committee", "limit": 5}
)
data = res.json()

for b in data["data"]:
    print(f"{b['billNumber']}: {b['title']} [{b['status']}]")

GET

/api/v1/jurisdictions

Returns all available jurisdictions including federal, 50 states, and territories. No parameters required.

Code Samples

curl

curl "https://megalawusa.com/api/v1/jurisdictions"

JavaScript (fetch)

const res = await fetch("https://megalawusa.com/api/v1/jurisdictions");
const { data } = await res.json();

// Get all state names
const states = data
  .filter(j => j.level === "state")
  .map(j => j.name);

console.log(states);

Python (requests)

import requests

res = requests.get("https://megalawusa.com/api/v1/jurisdictions")
data = res.json()

# Get all state names
states = [j["name"] for j in data["data"] if j["level"] == "state"]
print(states)

Example Response

JSON

{
  "data": [
    {
      "id": "federal",
      "name": "United States Federal",
      "abbreviation": "US",
      "slug": "federal",
      "level": "federal",
      "capital": "Washington, D.C.",
      "population": 331900000
    },
    {
      "id": "california",
      "name": "California",
      "abbreviation": "CA",
      "slug": "california",
      "level": "state",
      "capital": "Sacramento",
      "population": 39538223
    }
  ],
  "meta": { "total": 56 }
}

Pagination

All list endpoints support cursor-based pagination using limit and offset parameters. Check meta.hasMore to determine if more results are available.

JavaScript

// Fetch all statutes with pagination
async function fetchAllStatutes() {
  let allData = [];
  let offset = 0;
  const limit = 100;

  while (true) {
    const res = await fetch(
      `https://megalawusa.com/api/v1/statutes?limit=${limit}&offset=${offset}`
    );
    const { data, meta } = await res.json();
    allData.push(...data);

    if (!meta.hasMore) break;
    offset += limit;
  }

  return allData;
}

Error Handling

The API returns standard HTTP status codes. Successful requests return 200. Invalid parameters return 400. Rate-limited requests return 429.