Library Guides Online
U.S. Supreme Court Cases
By Jessica R. Alexander, Reference Librarian
Editing and Layout by James G. Durham, Publications and Reference Librarian
INTRODUCTION
The United States Supreme Court is the highest authority and final interpreter of the United States Constitution. Statutory provisions relating to the organization of the Supreme Court are located at 28 U.S.C. §§ 1-6. The United States Supreme Court consists of one Chief Justice and eight Associate Justices. The Court is required to hold a term beginning the first Monday in October each year, but may hold adjourned or special terms. Jurisdiction, or authority to hear cases, is explained in 28 U.S.C. §§ 1251 et seq. Judicial opinions, or case law, are the work product of the Court. During each term, justices consider and follow the opinions issued in previous terms in order to decide present cases.
THE GOAL OF CASE LAW RESEARCH
Effective legal argument requires identification of the most recent judicial opinion with substantive facts and procedural issues most closely matching the question at issue. Relevant opinions are commonly said to be on "all fours" or "on point" with the issue at hand. "Weight of authority" depends upon the level of the court issuing the opinion. (See Brandt, Lydia, Texas Legal Research, Texas Lawyer Press: 1995, Chapter 4. Call number: KFT1275 B7 1995 Reserve). (See also Cohen, et al., How to Find the Law, West Publishing Company: 1995, for a detailed discussion of case law principles.)
SOURCES: CASE REPORTERS
Case law research may be divided into two categories: primary and secondary sources. Primary law, the actual texts of opinions, originates from a government source, the judiciary. (The actual text of statutes in the United States Code also is considered primary law.) Secondary sources are subject-based commentaries on case law, such as digests or treatises. Secondary sources discuss and enhance case law and serve as a starting point for finding "on point" cases.
Case reporters are multi-volume sets that contain the text of judicial opinions issued in a particular jurisdiction or on a particular subject. Generally, reporters are not the starting point for case law research because cases are printed in chronological order, with no organization by topic. Minimal indexing in reporters consists of lists of cases accompanied by page numbers for a particular volume. Instead, digests or other secondary sources are preferable launch pads in the quest for relevant case law.
The location of a case in a reporter is called the citation. The citation usually consists of a volume number, an abbreviation of the reporter’s title, and a page number -- for example, Bell v. Wolfish, 441 U.S. 520, 99 S.Ct. 1861, 60 L.Ed. 2d 447. In this example, U.S. stands for United States Reports, the government-issued official reporter for U.S. Supreme Court cases. The opinion is located in volume 441 and begins on page 520. The other two elements of the citation string refer to the location of the case in the United States Supreme Court Reporter and in the United States Supreme Court Reports Lawyer’s Edition. These citations are called "parallel citations" because the same case is reported in three separately published reporters. See the descriptions of these reporters below.
Private companies who publish case law generally add value to the opinions by supplying "headnotes" and other cross-referencing features. Headnotes are written by legal scholars employed by the publishing company; these headnotes are concise summaries of the main concepts in an opinion. The headnotes are duplicated in digests and may be used to cross-reference between sets of legal materials.
In addition to general U.S. Supreme Court case reporters, subject specialty reporters also are available from private publishers. Many of these specialized reporters are in looseleaf format and include digests.
United States Reports, Washington, D.C.: United States Government Printing Office, abbreviated as "U.S." KF101 .U53
This publication is the official, or government-authorized, reporter for U.S. Supreme Court cases.
Finding aids in the volumes: Table of Cases (reported in that particular volume) and Index to Lists of Orders. (Neither of these tools is in a cumulative table or index to the set.)
Note: Only bound volumes contain official opinions. Un-paginated slip opinions are issued after a case is decided. The slip opinion version is subject to change. Bound volumes are published almost two years behind the date of decision. The early Supreme Court cases (the first ninety volumes of the cases reported in United States Reports) were named for individual reporters -- Dallas, Cranch, Wheaton, Peters, Howard, Black, and Wallace. Later, these reports were made a part of the United States Reports and were given alternative volume and page number citations. For a list of the date spans of these reports, see The Bluebook: A Uniform System of Citation, Table T.1.
United States Supreme Court Reporter, St. Paul, Minn.: West Group, abbreviated as "S. Ct." KF101 .U565
Finding aids in volumes: Table of Actions; Words and Phrases (relates legal terminology to case law); Key Number Digest (relates West topics and key numbers to cases in volume).
Note: The publication is noted for its West Key Number System headnotes, which are utilized in West’s American Digest System. The Supreme Court Digest and the Federal Practice Digest are parts of this system. Once an "on point" case is located, the topics and headnotes in that case will lead to other cases with the same topics in any of the West digests.
United States Supreme Court Reports Lawyers Edition, Charlottesville, Va.: Lexis Law Publishing Company, abbreviated as "L. Ed." and "L. Ed. 2d" KF101 .U551
Finding aids in volumes: Table of cases; Index of Decisions; Quick Case Table (with references to annotations, including American Law Reports); Briefs of Counsel (summaries of issues in case briefs with lists of counsel of record); and Later Case Service (updates older Supreme Court cases).
Note: The cases in this publication include headnotes coordinated with the United States Supreme Court Digest, Lawyer’s Edition. Annotations, written by legal scholars, include extensive case law and cross references to other Lawyer’s Edition (Lexis Publishing) publications. Advance sheets have the added feature of a Current Awareness Commentary in which cases scheduled for argument, cases accepted for review, and recent decisions are summarized.
United States Law Week, Washington, D.C.: Bureau of National Affairs, abbreviated as "U.S.L.W." KF101 .U5 (Current on Reserve; back volumes in Main)
Finding aids: (Cumulative) Index Summaries; Table of Cases; and Case Status Report
Note: The Supreme Court Opinions Section of this weekly publication provides the earliest advance paper copies of full-text Supreme court opinions. U.S.L.W. also contains advance notice of cases in which application for certiorari has been filed and which have been accepted for review. Scheduled arguments also are listed. The publication allows researchers to verify the finality of appellate court cases and to trace the history of Supreme Court proceedings. The Review of Decisions contains useful statistics tables. Citation manuals, such as The Bluebook, allow citation to U.S.L.W. when a United States Reports citation is not available. The Index and the Case Status Tables gradually cumulate over the ten-month term of the Court.
SOURCES: DIGESTS
Digests are multi-volume sets that classify cases by topic and that briefly summarize relevant portions of case opinions. Case citations, which inform the user where printed or electronic copies of the opinion may be located, are included with the opinion summaries.
United States Supreme Court Digest: Lawyers Edition, Charlottesville, Va.: Lexis Law Publishing Company KF101 .U56
Finding aids: Index to Decisions; Annotations; and Digest-Table of Cases-Court Rules.
Note: The Digest is divided into approximately 250 main topics. A topic is identified using the list of topics in the volumes that contain the Index to Decisions, Annotations, and Digest at the end of the set. Each topic is subdivided using section numbers. The Index refers to abbreviations of a topic and to section numbers. The abbreviations are identified at the front of the Index. The topics are arranged alphabetically in the bound volumes. The spine of each book identifies the first and last topic contained in the book. Headnotes of cases reported in United States Supreme Court Reports Lawyer’s Edition are keyed to this digest. The set also contains cross references to American Jurisprudence (a legal encyclopedia) and to the American Law Reports annotations.
United States Supreme Court Digest, St. Paul, Minn.: West Group KF101 .U57
Finding aids: Words and Phrases, and Table of Cases.
Note: This Digest is more widely used than the previously mentioned Lawyer’s Edition because the United States Supreme Court Digest is part of the American Digest System from West Group. Thus, this Digest utilizes the popular West key number system. (For a detailed discussion of the system, see Cohen, et al., How to Find the Law. West Group: 1995.) The system contains over 410 main topics, which are further divided by concepts with key numbers in a topical outline. The same topics and key number sub-divisions are used throughout the system, so that key numbers are uniform for all state and federal digests published by West. When one relevant key number in a case is identified for any jurisdiction, that key number may be used to locate a case on the same point in another jurisdiction. Careful use of the topical outline to pinpoint issues and key numbers is an effective research method. Ask the reference librarian for other publications which provide details on the use of the American Digest System and West’s National Reporter System. The Words and Phrases finding tool is located in volumes at the end of the set. Words and Phrases, as used by West Group, denotes words that have been legally defined in a court case. Like Words and Phrases, the Table of Cases volumes are located at the end of the set.
Federal Practice Digest, St. Paul, Minn.: West Group KF127 .W4565
Finding aids: Words and Phrases (in 4th Series); Descriptive Word Index (in older series); and Table of Cases
Note: The Federal Practice Digest contains six series of volumes and incorporates two series of the Modern Federal Practice Digest. The current series is Federal Practice Digest, 4th Series. The Digest duplicates the cases in the United States Supreme Court Digest and also digests opinions of the lower federal courts.
SOURCES: ANNOTATED CODES & STATUTES
The United States Code (U.S.C.) is available in annotated form from private publishers. The United States Code Annotated (St. Paul, Minn.: West Group, abbreviated U.S.C.A., KF62 .U5) and the United States Code Service (Charlottesville, Va.: Lexis Law Publishing Company, abbreviated U.S.C.S., KF63 .U6) provide brief summaries of cases which address sections of the United States Code. A researcher seeking case law on a particular U.S.C. provision usually begins with one of these two publications.
SOURCES: CITATORS
Citators take a particular case and list other cases that cite the first case. Citators usually explain if cases have followed, criticized, overturned, or otherwise referenced the legal conclusions of the first case. A researcher can use a citator to trace the development of a certain principle of law enunciated in a particular holding and, in addition, can determine whether a later case has changed or discarded the holding.
Shepard’s United States Citations, Charlottesville, Va.: Lexis Law Publishing Company KF101.2 .S54 (Shepard’s is available online from Lexis-Nexis. For an online service similar to Shepard’s, try Keycite from Westlaw.)
Notes: The term "shepardize" means to determine whether case law is still valid by using various Shepard’s publications. For U.S. Supreme Court cases, Shepard’s United States Citations is the publication to consult. The work has separate bound volumes for each of the three U.S Supreme Court case reporters. Therefore, if you have only the official citation or a citation to one of the private publications, you still can "shepardize" your case. The publication uses a columnar arrangement of cases by volume and then by page number. Information includes parallel citations, case history, case treatment, citing cases, and annotations. Citing cases are those that rely on the cases being researched, but do not enhance or detract from the original case holding. Consult the front of the volume for instructions and an abbreviation key, which includes the letters for history and treatment. For example, a small a in the front of a citation means that the decision affirmed the holding in the original case. On the other hand, an o means that the decision overturned the holding in the original case.
SOURCES: LEGAL ENCYCLOPEDIAS & ANNOTATIONS
Legal encyclopedias provide expanded definitions and discussions of legal terminology. Two of the major legal encyclopedias bill themselves as statements of American law. Encyclopedic discussions include relevant case law from various jurisdictions.
Corpus Juris Secundum, St. Paul: West Group KF154 .C61
Finding aids: General Index, Table of Laws and Rules, and Lists of Tables in the front of each volume.
Notes: Corpus Juris Secundum, commonly called C.J.S., is the successor to Corpus Juris. Over 450 legal topics or titles are treated. The set surveys the case law of the federal judiciary (including the U.S. Supreme Court) and of the fifty states. C.J.S. also references the United States Code. Titles are placed alphabetically in the volumes, with the beginning and ending titles of each volume listed on the spine of the book.
American Law Reports Annotated, Rochester, N.Y.: Lawyers Co-Operative Publishing Company KF132 .A4 et seq.
Finding aids: ALR Federal Tables and ALR Quick Index.
Notes: American Law Reports, commonly called A.L.R., is a collection of legal memoranda organized around principles and issues suggested by major cases. The cases are chosen by editors and the memoranda are written by legal scholars. The A.L.R. Federal Tables paper volume, found near the end of the A.L.R. Federal set, is especially relevant to U.S. Supreme Court cases. Extensive treatment of a U.S. Supreme Court case in an annotation quickly may be accessed using the index. Each memorandum is outlined and contains cross references to American Jurisprudence, Corpus Juris Secundum, practice aids, texts, and law review articles. Each of these cross references will lead to U.S. Supreme Court cases. The set is divided into five general series and a federal series.
American Jurisprudence 2d, St. Paul, Minn: West Group KF154 .A42
Finding aids: Index, Table of Statutes, Rules and Regulations Cited (United States Code, CFR Table)
Notes: American Jurisprudence, commonly called Am. Jur., covers over 400 legal topics, which are subdivided into sub-topic sections. Related cases from every jurisdiction, including the Supreme Court, are surveyed. American Jurisprudence includes cross references to A.L.R. citations and to practice aids.
Words and Phrases, St. Paul: West Group KF156 .W6
Notes: This venerable publication is a set of bound volumes, which are updated with pocket parts. The publication is subtitled, "All Judicial Constructions and Definitions of Words and Phrases by the State and Federal Courts from the Earliest Times, Alphabetically Arranged and Indexed." The set cross-references terms of art to cases in which the terms have been utilized or defined.
SOURCES: TREATISES
A treatise is a paper or electronic legal publication dedicated to a single subject, such as torts or contracts. A treatise may consist of a single book (monograph) or a multi-volume set that is updated periodically (serial). Treatises always refer to case law on the particular subject. The researcher should perform a keyword or subject search in the library’s catalog to identify treatises.
SOURCES: LAW REVIEWS
Law schools in the United States publish student-edited journals. These law reviews contain articles by legal scholars and by students. Case law discussions on the subject always are included in these articles. Law review articles are accessed by using paper or electronic indexes such as Index to Legal Periodicals (Ref K33 .I632), Current Law Index (Ref K33 C87), as well as LegalTrac and HeinOnline (both of which are electronic databases linked on our library’s website).
SOURCES: INTERNET
Several websites are invaluable in the quest for U.S. Supreme Court case information. In addition to the LegalTrac and HeinOnline databases mentioned above, these sites are highly recommended to researchers:
Official U.S. Supreme Court Website www.supremecourtus.gov
This website features U.S. Supreme Court case opinions in electronic format from the 1999 Term through the present. The site also contains cases from bound volumes of United States Reports from 1991 forward. Thus, one may download authoritative opinions. The United States Reports online version is not available until the bound volume actually is issued. The "cite finder" is a useful feature of this website. Using the Edit/Find in-page feature of the browser, the researcher can find a citation for the whole range of opinions. According to the website, "in case of discrepancies between the print and electronic versions of a slip opinion, the print version controls. In case of discrepancies between the slip opinion and any later official version of the opinion, the later version controls."
Fedworld Flite www.fedworld.gov/supcourt/index.htm
This U.S. government website contains official U.S. Supreme Court opinions from volume 300 to volume 422 of the United States Reports. This database was owned by the Air Force, which agreed to release it to the public.
Legal Information Institute at Cornell (LII) http://supct.law.cornell.edu/supct/
This site provides access to 600 historic opinions, in addition to the full opinions of the U.S. Supreme Court from 1990 forward. The site provides historical and organizational information about the U.S. Supreme Court, as well as docket information.
SOURCES: ANCILLARY MATERIALS
The Complete Oral Arguments of the Supreme Court of the United States. Washington, D.C.: Congressional Information Service. KF101.8 .C65 (microform)
Blandford, Linda A. and Patricia Russell Evans, eds. (1983). Supreme Court of the United States 1789-1980 An Index to Opinions Arranged by Justice. Millwood, N.Y.: Kraus International Publications. KF101.6 .B57 1983
Kurland, Phillip B. and Gerhard Casper, eds. (1975). Landmark Briefs and Arguments of the Supreme Court of the United States: Constitutional Law, Washington, D.C.: University Publications of America. KF101.8 .K87
Stern, Robert L. Supreme Court Practice (1993). Washington, D.C.: Bureau of National Affairs. KF9057 .S8 1993 Reserve
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