How we determine case status
When we say a case was overruled, we can show you where. Our "Overruled" labels come from documented sources — the overruling decision itself, court-published case history, and curated references — and every label links to the overruling case so you can read it yourself. Before an "Overruled by …" line appears, our systems verify that the overruling opinion actually discusses the case it overrules.
When we say a case is good law, here is exactly what that means: no overruling or superseding decision appears in our records for it. Our records are extensive — millions of decisions and their citation history — but no database of American case law is complete, and courts can limit a precedent without formally overruling it. "Good law" is our best, continuously-updated reading of the record, not a guarantee.
What we check, in order
- Explicit overrulings — decisions that state they overrule a prior case, verified against the overruling opinion's own text.
- Court-published history — appellate history fields from court records (reversed, vacated, superseded), where available.
- Curated references — established lists of overruled decisions, each entry resolved to the actual overruling opinion in our corpus.
What we deliberately do NOT do
We never infer a case's status from commentary, news, or citation counts alone; we never label a case overruled without a resolvable overruling decision; and validity ("is this still good law?") is kept separate from appeal outcome ("was this particular judgment affirmed or reversed?") — a case can be affirmed and later overruled, or reversed on one issue and authoritative on another.
Found something we missed?
Every case page has a "report a correction" link. If you know of negative treatment we haven't recorded, tell us — with a citation — and we'll verify it the same way we verify everything else.
Last reviewed: July 11, 2026 · This page describes our method; it is not legal advice.