Due Process: The Georgetown Law Library Blog - Supreme Court

Papers of Former Chief Justice Earl Warren on Microfilm

Sun, 26 Jul 2009 16:51:36 -0500

The library recently acquired a microfilm collection of the Earl Warren Papers which reproduces documents archived in the Manuscript Division of the Library of Congress. This 70 reel microfilm collection includes Warren's opinions as Chief Justice from 1953 until 1969, as well as his conference memoranda and 13 reels of his correspondence from 1953 through 1974.

Earl Warren, nominated by President Dwight D. Eisenhower, served as the 14th Chief Justice of the Supreme Court. The Warren Court oversaw such landmark decisions as Brown v. Board of Education, Gideon v. Wainwright and Miranda v. Arizona.

The collection is available for use in our Media Department on the first floor of the Williams Library.

SCOTUS Blog's Supreme Court Term Statistics Released

Wed, 01 Jul 2009 15:23:47 -0500

The SCOTUS Blog has released their end of term "Super Stat Pack" presenting a variety of different statistical measures of the United States' Supreme Court's recent term. Data sets include information on opinion tallies, the number of times a particular justice was in the majority, scorecards for each circuit and a variety of other information. SCOTUS Blog allows you to download all charts as a PDF file.

Supreme Court Compendium Online

Wed, 17 Jun 2009 14:40:00 -0500

The Law Library has acquired the online version of the Supreme Court Compendium. If you are unfamiliar with the Compendium, you may want to check it out. It contains a wealth of information about the U.S. Supreme Court, its history, justices, and decisions. This information is presented in the form of well over one-hundred tables, making it easy to navigate. For example, one table evaluates the ideology of each justice from 1937-2006, using several different measurements, such as commitment to civil and economic liberties and support for the programs of the New Deal.

In addition, each chapter includes introductory commentary, and there is an extensive bibliography. First published in 1994, the Compendium is now in its fourth edition. We also have two copies of the print version in our reference collection.

Sotomayor Questionnaire Available

Fri, 05 Jun 2009 11:09:00 -0500

Nominees for the federal judiciary are required to complete a questionnaire created by the Senate Judiciary Committee. The Committee has made Judge Sotomayor's responses and related documents available on its home page. Included are her publications, speeches, news clippings, and notable past decisions and opinions.

Supreme Court Nominations

Mon, 04 May 2009 12:45:00 -0500

On Friday, Justice Souter announced his intention to retire from the Court at the end of its current term.

For a crash course in how the nomination process works, read the Congressional Research Service's report Supreme Court Appointment Process: Roles of the President, Judiciary Committee, and Senate (last updated 3/20/08).

The Library recently updated the Supreme Court Nominations Research Guide. It includes links to materials about the nomination process and the text of previous nomination and confirmation proceedings.