Dockets, filings, and court records
Docket
A docket is the court's official numbered list of everything that has been filed or has happened in a case, in date order.
Think of it as the case's table of contents. Every complaint, motion, brief, order, and hearing gets its own numbered entry with a short description written by the clerk. When lawyers say they are looking at a case, they usually mean they are reading its docket.
Entry numbers matter more than they look. Filings refer to each other by docket number, so an order that says it is granting the motion at ECF No. 42 is telling you exactly which document it decided. Some entries have a PDF attached and some, like minute entries, do not.
Reading one takes practice because the clerk writes in shorthand. Entries reference each other by number, dates appear twice when a filing is entered late, and the same event can produce a minute entry, a written order, and a judgment on three different days. The habit worth building is to read the last twenty entries first, then work backwards to the filings they refer to.
How it appears on a docket
A docket sheet header reads Rodriguez v. Acme Logistics, Inc., 1:23-cv-04517, and the list under it runs from 1 COMPLAINT filed 6/2/2023 down to 218 JUDGMENT entered 4/9/2026.
Related terms
- Docket Number — A docket number is the unique identifier a court assigns to a case, such as 1:23-cv-04517, and it is the fastest way to find that case again.
- Minute Entry — A minute entry is the clerk's note on the docket recording something that happened in the courtroom, usually with no document attached.
More on dockets, filings, and court records
See this term in a real case
Search federal court records and read the filings where docket actually shows up. New to federal dockets? Start with how to find a federal case.