us-legal-mcp

# 🇺🇸 US Legal MCP Server A comprehensive Model Context Protocol (MCP) server for US legal data, providing access to Congress bills, Federal Register documents, court opinions, and committee data. ## ✨ Features ### 📜 **Congress.gov Integration** - Search bills and resolutions - Get recent legislation - Get committee information - Real-time legislative data ### 📋 **Federal Register Integration** - Search regulations and executive orders - Get recent agency documents - Full document text and metadata ### ⚖️ **CourtListener Integration** - Search court opinions (federal and state courts) - Get recent court decisions - Access Supreme Court, appellate, and state court data - Full case text and metadata ### 🗳️ **Congress Committees** - Get committee information - Filter by chamber (House/Senate) - Legislative activity tracking ## 🚀 Quick Start ### Installation ```bash npm install npm run build ``` ### Environment Variables (Optional) ```bash # For enhanced Congress.gov access (free tier available) export CONGRESS_API_KEY="your_congress_api_key" # For CourtListener API access (free tier available) export COURT_LISTENER_API_KEY="your_court_listener_api_key" ``` ### Running the Server ```bash npm start ``` ### MCP Configuration (Cursor/Claude) To use this MCP server with Cursor or Claude Desktop, add the following configuration: #### For Cursor Create or edit `~/.cursor/mcp.json` (or your Cursor MCP config location): ```json { "mcpServers": { "us-legal-mcp": { "command": "node", "args": ["/absolute/path/to/legal-mcp/dist/index.js"], "env": { "CONGRESS_API_KEY": "", "COURT_LISTENER_API_KEY": "258021eb4dd1901f1acfdb3f521fb8a7837a9097" } } } } ``` **Important**: Replace `/absolute/path/to/legal-mcp` with your actual project path. #### For Claude Desktop Edit `~/Library/Application Support/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json` (macOS): ```json { "mcpServers": { "us-legal-mcp": { "command": "node", "args": ["/absolute/path/to/legal-mcp/dist/index.js"], "env": { "CONGRESS_API_KEY": "", "COURT_LISTENER_API_KEY": "258021eb4dd1901f1acfdb3f521fb8a7837a9097" } } } } ``` See `mcp-config-example.json` in this repository for a reference configuration. ## 🛠️ Available Tools ### `search-congress-bills` Search for bills and resolutions in Congress.gov - **Query**: Search terms (e.g., "immigration", "healthcare") - **Congress**: Optional Congress number (100-120) - **Limit**: Number of results (1-50) ### `search-federal-register` Search Federal Register documents (regulations, executive orders) - **Query**: Search terms - **Limit**: Number of results (1-50) ### `search-all-legal` Comprehensive search across all working sources (Congress Bills, Federal Register, Court Opinions) - **Query**: Search terms - **Limit**: Results per source (1-50) ### `get-recent-bills` Get recently introduced bills - **Congress**: Optional Congress number - **Limit**: Number of results (1-50) ### `get-recent-regulations` Get recently published Federal Register documents - **Limit**: Number of results (1-50) ### `search-court-opinions` Search for court opinions and decisions - **Query**: Search terms (e.g., "constitutional", "copyright") - **Court**: Optional court filter (e.g., "scotus", "ca1", "ca2") - **Limit**: Number of results (1-50) ### `get-recent-court-opinions` Get the most recently published court opinions - **Court**: Optional court filter - **Limit**: Number of results (1-50) ### `get-congress-committees` Get list of Congressional committees - **Congress**: Optional Congress number (100-120) - **Chamber**: Optional filter ("House" or "Senate") ## 📊 Data Sources | Source | Description | API | Auth Required | Status | | -------------------- | ------------------------------ | -------------------------------------- | ------------- | ------ | | **Congress.gov** | Bills, resolutions, committees | https://api.congress.gov/v3 | Optional | ✅ | | **Federal Register** | Regulations, executive orders | https://www.federalregister.gov/api/v1 | No | ✅ | | **CourtListener** | Court opinions, decisions | https://www.courtlistener.com/api/ | Optional | ✅ | **Note:** US Code and Regulations.gov integrations were removed due to persistent API reliability issues. ## 🔑 API Keys ### Congress.gov API Key (Optional) 1. Visit [https://api.congress.gov/](https://api.congress.gov/) 2. Sign up for a free account 3. Get your API key 4. Set `CONGRESS_API_KEY` environment variable ### CourtListener API Key (Optional) 1. Visit [https://www.courtlistener.com/api/](https://www.courtlistener.com/api/) 2. Create a free account 3. Get your API key from your profile 4. Set `COURT_LISTENER_API_KEY` environment variable **Note**: A pre-configured API key is included in the example MCP config file for quick setup. ## 🎯 Example Usage ### Search for Immigration Bills ```json { "tool": "search-congress-bills", "arguments": { "query": "immigration", "congress": 118, "limit": 10 } } ``` ### Search Federal Regulations ```json { "tool": "search-federal-register", "arguments": { "query": "environmental protection", "limit": 5 } } ``` ### Comprehensive Legal Search ```json { "tool": "search-all-legal", "arguments": { "query": "healthcare", "limit": 20 } } ``` ### Search Court Opinions ```json { "tool": "search-court-opinions", "arguments": { "query": "immigration asylum", "court": "scotus", "limit": 10 } } ``` ### Get Congressional Committees ```json { "tool": "get-congress-committees", "arguments": { "congress": 119, "chamber": "Senate" } } ``` ## 📝 License MIT License - see LICENSE file for details. ## 🤝 Contributing Contributions welcome! Please read the contributing guidelines and submit pull requests.