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Federal Judicial Branch

Federal judicial resources contain the decisions (also known as "case law") issued by the U.S. federal courts and other documents such as pleadings and documents associated with litigation. This guide contains links to free online sources of materials related to the federal judicial branch. For more free online sources of federal legal materials, see our Free and Low Cost Legal Research Guide.

For more information on how to find cases and use digests, see our research guides on Case Law , Using Digests, and U.S. Supreme Court Research.

U.S. Supreme Court

Opinions of the Supreme Court of the United States are available on the Court's official website from October Term 1991 to present.

In addition to the Supreme Court's website, opinions are also freely available on

• Google Scholar (1791 - )
  
  
• Justia (All)
  
  
• lexisONE (All)
  
  
• Public Library of Law (All)
  
  
• Cornell Legal Information Institute (1990 - , and select older opinions)
  
  
• Findlaw (1893 - )

U.S. Court of Appeals - Opinions

Below are links to opinions and orders available on the websites of the U.S. Courts of Appeal. Dates of availability vary by court.

• 1st Circuit (1992 - )
  
  
• 2nd Circuit
  
  
• 3rd Circuit
  
  
• 4th Circuit (1996 - )
  
  
• 5th Circuit (1992 - )
  
  
• 6th Circuit (July 1, 1999 - (published); October 1, 2004 - (unpublished))
  
  
• 7th Circuit
  
  
• 8th Circuit (1995 - )
  
  
• 9th Circuit (1995 - (published opinions); 2002 - (unpublished))
  
  
• 10th Circuit (1995 - )
  
  
• 11th Circuit (January 1995 - (published); April 18, 2005 - (unpublished))
  
  
• D.C. Circuit (September 1997 - )
  
  
• Federal Circuit (2004 - )
  
  
• Armed Forces (October 1996 - )

In addition to the opinions and orders available on court websites, U.S. Court of Appeals opinions are freely available on

• Google Scholar (1923 - )
  
  
• Justia (1950 - )
  
  
• Public Library of Law (1950 - )
  
  
• FindLaw (1990s - , varies by circuit)
  
  
• lexisONE (previous ten years)
  
  
• Georgetown University Law Library
  
  
  • D.C. Circuit (April 1995-February 2008)
    
    
  • Federal Circuit (July 1995-February 2008)

U.S. District Courts

The Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts maintains the most current listing of links to all U.S. federal courts, including district courts. Dates of availability vary by court.

In addition to the court websites, district court opinions are freely available on

• Google Scholar (1923 - )
  
  
• Justia (2004 - ) (cases from most, but not all, district courts)

Related Sites

• Administrative Office of the Courts
  
  
• Federal Court Cases: Integrated Data Base, 1970-2000 (Inter-University Consortium for Political and Social Research)
  
  
• Supreme Court Database
  
  
• Federal Judicial Center
  
  
• Federal Rules and Rulemaking
• 
  
• Guide to the U.S. Supreme Court (Jurist)
  
  
• The Third Branch: The Newsletter of the Federal Courts
  
  
• U. S. Department of Justice
  
  
• United States Sentencing Commission
  
  
• PACER (Public Access to Electronic Court Records)
  
  
  • Accessing documents on PACER costs a small fee. For free access to some dockets and documents, visit
    
    
    • Free Court Dockets
      
      
    • RECAP
      
      
• Oyez Project (Multimedia database contains Supreme Court oral arguments, case summaries, biographies of justices, and more)

Updated 12/2010 (MS)

Page last saved on 12/22/2010