Federal Law Research Guide: Supreme Court

Case Reports

• SUPREME COURT OF THE UNITED STATES site includes:
  • Opinions from 1991 Term forward
  • U.S. Reports bound volumes (PDFs) v. 502 forward
  • slip opinions of the current term
  • Special Master Reports in original jurisdiction cases, 1989 forward

• Casetext, Free legal research database including Supreme Court cases, Federal Circuit Court of Appeals cases (1925--), and Federal District Court cases (1925--). 
• CORNELL LII Supreme Court page includes cases 1990 forward and selected historic cases.
• Findlaw has U.S. Supreme Court cases from 1760 forward
• HeinOnline U.S. Supreme Court Library (Rutgers-restricted access). Decisions from 1754 forward, including slip opinions (though not quite as current as the Supreme Court site); also has monographs and periodicals concerning the Court and its decisions.
• JUSTIA.COM U.S. Supreme Court Center. Decisions from 1759 forward, searchable and browsable, easy to use.
• Ravel Law, Case law database with cases from the Supreme Court, Circuit Courts, Federal District Courts, and state courts.  Requires creation of an account but has a free option for basic case law databases.
• SCOTUS BLOG Archive: Orders & Opinions, October 2007 forward; may have bench opinions posted before slip opinions are on the Supreme Court site.

Briefs, Arguments, & Other Information on Supreme Court Cases

• Oral Arguments - includes transcripts from 2000 term forward, and audio from 2010 term forward (on U.S. Supreme Court web site)
• Briefs in U.S. Supreme Court cases, Oct.1999 Term forward (at Findlaw)
• Dates of U.S. Supreme Court Decisions . . . 1791-1882 Table supplying decision dates omitted from original reports.
• The Oyez Project, Northwestern University Includes audio recordings of the arguments at the U.S. Supreme Court, and extensive biographical information on the current Justices.
• SCOTUS BLOG (Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld LLP): news, commentary and analysis of the Supreme Court.
• The Supreme Court Database Includes case-centered and justice-centered datasets, for cases from the 1946 term forward, analyzable online or downloadable.
• Preview of U.S. Supreme Court Cases (American Bar Association, Division for Public Education). The full current Preview is available by subscription. The public web site includes: selected articles from the current issue; archived issues from Oct.2007 to May 2008; briefs in argued cases from 2003-04 term forward.
• Voices of American Law (at Duke University School of Law). For a dozen-and-a-half important Supreme Court cases, this site supplies video interviews with one or more parties; for some of the cases, the site includes joint appendices or trial transcripts, complaints and judgments.