Cert™

View negative citations on US cases quickly on the vLex platform.

The information below is only true for United States cases. To see citation information for other jurisdictions, please read our article on Treatment Types.

Please contact your Account Manager if you cannot see Cert citations and you have access to our US content.

Cert shows negative treatments resulting from combining case-to-case citations, relevant language patterns, and appellate history. We have combined superior technology with a dedicated team of lawyers with years of editorial expertise to create a superior review process.

Cert is available for the following US courts:

  • Supreme Court

  • Federal Circuit Courts

For all states and DC*:

  • The court of last resort/highest court in the state

  • Appellate courts

*Does not include Puerto Rico, USVI, Guam, American Samoa, or Tribal.

A negative citator aims to identify the most negative treatment available for each case.

Cert focuses on red (warning) and orange (questioned) treatments. They indicate that a point of law has been overturned, disputed, or questioned; or that a case’s precedential value has been impugned in some way.

Red (Warning) Treatments

  • Overrule

  • Vacate

  • Disavow

  • Reverse

  • Abrogate

  • Supercede

Orange (Questioned) Treatments

  • Criticize

  • Disagree

  • Decline to Follow

  • Decline to Extend

Cert treatments for all cases are updated weekly, with special exceptions for highly impactful federal cases.

Treatments will be displayed alongside the case name on both the results page and within the case itself.

You can view additional details by selecting the treatment.

The treatments will still show on the Cited Authorities and Cited In tabs as normal.

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