diff --git a/packages/annotator/src/__tests__/client.test.ts b/packages/annotator/src/__tests__/client.test.ts
index 475b2b8..2edaaff 100644
--- a/packages/annotator/src/__tests__/client.test.ts
+++ b/packages/annotator/src/__tests__/client.test.ts
@@ -2,6 +2,20 @@ import { describe, it, expect, vi, afterEach } from 'vitest';
 import { createLogger } from '@civic-source/shared';
 
 import { CourtListenerClient, isCourtListenerResult } from '../client.js';
+import { COURTLISTENER_RATE_LIMITER, RATE_LIMIT_PER_HOUR } from '../constants.js';
+
+describe('COURTLISTENER_RATE_LIMITER (#230)', () => {
+  it('sustains exactly RATE_LIMIT_PER_HOUR tokens per hour (not the old ~7200)', () => {
+    const perHour =
+      (3_600_000 / COURTLISTENER_RATE_LIMITER.refillIntervalMs) * COURTLISTENER_RATE_LIMITER.refillRate;
+    expect(perHour).toBeLessThanOrEqual(RATE_LIMIT_PER_HOUR);
+    expect(perHour).toBe(RATE_LIMIT_PER_HOUR);
+  });
+
+  it('caps burst capacity at the hourly limit', () => {
+    expect(COURTLISTENER_RATE_LIMITER.capacity).toBe(RATE_LIMIT_PER_HOUR);
+  });
+});
 
 const VALID = {
   caseName: 'Doe v. United States',
diff --git a/packages/annotator/src/annotator.ts b/packages/annotator/src/annotator.ts
index b41971e..deec7b2 100644
--- a/packages/annotator/src/annotator.ts
+++ b/packages/annotator/src/annotator.ts
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 import { type PrecedentAnnotation, PrecedentAnnotationSchema, type Result, ok, err } from '@civic-source/types';
-import { type Logger, createLogger, TokenBucket } from '@civic-source/shared';
+import { type Logger, createLogger } from '@civic-source/shared';
 import { type CourtListenerResult, CourtListenerClient } from './client.js';
 import {
   COURTLISTENER_BASE_URL,
@@ -7,7 +7,6 @@ import {
   MAX_HOLDING_SUMMARY_LENGTH,
   MAX_CASE_NAME_LENGTH,
   MAX_CITATION_LENGTH,
-  RATE_LIMIT_PER_HOUR,
   getApiToken,
 } from './constants.js';
 import { deduplicateCases } from './citation-utils.js';
@@ -155,19 +154,13 @@ export function annotationToYaml(annotation: PrecedentAnnotation): string {
 export class Annotator {
   private readonly client: CourtListenerClient;
   private readonly logger: Logger;
-  private readonly rateLimiter: TokenBucket;
 
-  constructor(options?: { client?: CourtListenerClient; logger?: Logger; rateLimiter?: TokenBucket }) {
+  constructor(options?: { client?: CourtListenerClient; logger?: Logger }) {
     this.logger = options?.logger ?? createLogger('Annotator');
     this.client = options?.client ?? new CourtListenerClient({
       token: getApiToken(),
       logger: this.logger,
     });
-    this.rateLimiter = options?.rateLimiter ?? new TokenBucket({
-      capacity: RATE_LIMIT_PER_HOUR,
-      refillRate: Math.ceil(RATE_LIMIT_PER_HOUR / 3600),
-      refillIntervalMs: 1000,
-    });
   }
 
   /** Query CourtListener for a section and build a validated PrecedentAnnotation */
@@ -175,12 +168,8 @@ export class Annotator {
     const timer = this.logger.startTimer('annotateSection');
     this.logger.info('Annotating section', { section });
 
-    // Rate limit check
-    if (!this.rateLimiter.tryConsume()) {
-      this.logger.warn('Rate limited, waiting for token', { section });
-      await this.rateLimiter.waitAndConsume();
-    }
-
+    // Rate limiting is enforced by the CourtListener client (the sole HTTP
+    // choke point); a second bucket here was redundant double-limiting (#230).
     const searchResult = await this.client.searchByStatute(section);
     if (!searchResult.ok) {
       timer();
diff --git a/packages/annotator/src/client.ts b/packages/annotator/src/client.ts
index ee8934b..fc5a4d2 100644
--- a/packages/annotator/src/client.ts
+++ b/packages/annotator/src/client.ts
@@ -3,7 +3,7 @@ import { type Logger, MAX_RETRIES, BASE_BACKOFF_MS, TokenBucket } from '@civic-s
 import {
   COURTLISTENER_BASE_URL,
   SEARCH_ENDPOINT,
-  RATE_LIMIT_PER_HOUR,
+  COURTLISTENER_RATE_LIMITER,
   DEFAULT_PAGE_SIZE,
 } from './constants.js';
 
@@ -67,11 +67,7 @@ export class CourtListenerClient {
     this.token = options.token;
     this.logger = options.logger;
     this.pageSize = options.pageSize ?? DEFAULT_PAGE_SIZE;
-    this.rateLimiter = options.rateLimiter ?? new TokenBucket({
-      capacity: RATE_LIMIT_PER_HOUR,
-      refillRate: Math.ceil(RATE_LIMIT_PER_HOUR / 3600),
-      refillIntervalMs: 1000,
-    });
+    this.rateLimiter = options.rateLimiter ?? new TokenBucket(COURTLISTENER_RATE_LIMITER);
   }
 
   /**
diff --git a/packages/annotator/src/constants.ts b/packages/annotator/src/constants.ts
index baa2bad..7c6681d 100644
--- a/packages/annotator/src/constants.ts
+++ b/packages/annotator/src/constants.ts
@@ -9,6 +9,21 @@ export const SEARCH_ENDPOINT = 'search/';
 /** CourtListener rate limit: 5000 requests per hour */
 export const RATE_LIMIT_PER_HOUR = 5000;
 
+/**
+ * Token-bucket config for the CourtListener client.
+ *
+ * The bucket refills `refillRate` tokens every `refillIntervalMs`, so its
+ * sustained rate is `refillRate / refillIntervalMs`. To honour exactly
+ * RATE_LIMIT_PER_HOUR/hour we refill one token every (3,600,000 / limit) ms.
+ * The previous config (`refillRate: ceil(limit/3600)=2` per 1000 ms) issued
+ * ~7200/hour — 44% over the documented cap (#230).
+ */
+export const COURTLISTENER_RATE_LIMITER = {
+  capacity: RATE_LIMIT_PER_HOUR,
+  refillRate: 1,
+  refillIntervalMs: Math.floor(3_600_000 / RATE_LIMIT_PER_HOUR),
+} as const;
+
 /** Environment variable name for the API token */
 export const API_TOKEN_ENV_VAR = 'COURTLISTENER_API_TOKEN';