Supreme Court Research Guide

INTRODUCTION

The Supreme Court of the United States is the court of last resort in the United States. Many cases that the Court reviews concern the Constitution, and the Court's decisions have far-reaching implications for the citizenry and the history of the United States. This guide is designed to give some background information and suggest resources for further research on the history of the Court, the justices of the Court, the Court's practice and decisions.

HISTORY OF THE SUPREME COURT

Article III, § 1 of the Constitution provides that "[t]he judicial Power of the United States, shall be vested in one supreme Court, and in such inferior Courts as the Congress may from time to time ordain and establish." In accordance with this constitutional provision, the Supreme Court of the United States was created under the Judiciary Act of September 24, 1789 (1 Stat. 73 (1789)) with six justices. The Court first assembled on February 1, 1790 in New York City - then the Nation's Capital. The first cases, however, did not reach the Supreme Court until its second year. The earliest sessions were devoted to organizational proceedings. The Court was expanded to nine members in 1869 (The Judiciary Act of 1869, 16 Stat. 44 (1869)).

Article III, § 2 provides the Supreme Court with its judicial power.

“The judicial Power shall extend to all Cases, in Law and Equity, arising under this Constitution, the Laws of the United States, and Treaties made, or which shall be made, under their authority; - to all Cases affecting Ambassadors, other public Ministers and Consuls; - to all Cases of admiralty and maritime Jurisdiction; - to Controversies to which the United States shall be a Party; - to Controversies between two or more states; - between a State and Citizens of another State; - between Citizens of different States; - between citizens of the same State claiming Lands under Grants of different States, and between a State, or the Citizens thereof, and foreign States, Citizens or Subjects. 

"In all Cases affecting Ambassadors, other public ministers and Consuls, and those in which a State shall be Party, the supreme Court shall have appellate jurisdiction, both as to Law and Fact, with such Exceptions, and under such Regulations as the Congress shall make."

28 U.S.C. § 1251 et seq. and other special statutes confer appellate jurisdiction on the Supreme Court.

References and Further Reading

• History of the Federal Judiciary [http://www.fjc.gov/history/home.nsf]
  • Landmark Judicial Legislation [http://www.fjc.gov/history/home.nsf/legislation_frm]
    
    
• Robert G. McCloskey, The American Supreme Court (4th ed., revised by Sanford Levinson, 2005). [KF8742 .M33]
  The first seven chapters of the book and the epilogue are as McCloskey wrote it in the late 1950’s.  Levinson added Chapter 8 and 9 to bring the history to the present. The book includes a bibliographical essay covering general reference works, historical overviews, judicial biographies, judicial roles, great cases, institutional studies of the modern court, and doctrinal studies.
  
  
• Peter H. Irons, A People’s History of the Supreme Court (1999). [KF8742 .I76]
  History of the Supreme Court as told through important constitutional cases expounded in the social and political context of the times.
  
  
• "History of The Court" in The Oxford Companion to The Supreme Court of the United States (Kermit L. Hall ed., 2d ed. 2005). [KF8742 .A35 D93] (Also available online to Georgetown Law)
  
  
• Robert Shnayerson, The Illustrated History of the Supreme Court of the United States (1986). [SPEC COLL, KF8742 .S52 ]
  
  
• The Documentary History of the Supreme Court of the United States, 1789-1800 (1985-1999). [ KF8742 .A45 D66]
  The Supreme Court Historical Society and the Supreme Court of the United States, with the encouragement of Chief Justice Warren E. Burger, produced this seven-volume set (with multiple parts in each volume) which provides the raw documentation – official records, private papers, and other primary sources - for scholars to study and interpret the development of the Court in its first decade.  It provides scholars and lawyers with the first accurate record of all cases heard by the Supreme Court between 1790 and 1800.  It also presents an ample selection of contemporary comment about the justices and their duties, the business of the Court, and the function of the Court in the constitutional framework. The criteria for selecting items are explained in each volume.
  
  
• The Supreme Court Historical Society
  Founded by Chief Justice Warren E. Burger, the Society, a private non-profit organization, is dedicated to the collection and preservation of the history of the Supreme Court of the United States. The Web site provides information about the history of the Court - its justices and its building. The Web site also lists the most significant oral arguments heard by the Supreme Court from 1955 until 1993. The Web site provides the text of 411 selected decisions. It also includes a detailed research guide, "Researching the Supreme Court of the United States."
  
  
• Brief Overview published by the Supreme Court
  
  
• The Court as an Institution published by the Supreme Court
  
  
• The Court and Its Tradition published by the Supreme Court

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JUSTICES

"The Supreme Court of the United States shall consist of a chief justice of the United States and eight associate justices, any 6 of whom shall constitute a quorum." (28 U.S.C. §1)

The Chief Justice:

The Judiciary Act of September 24, 1789 (1 Stat. 73) created the office of the Chief Justice and five associate justices, but the role of the Chief Justice was not described in the act.

Various scholars have written extensively about the roles of the Chief Justice over the years, and have identified five principal roles of the Chief Justice:

1. Presiding Officer

The Chief Justice presides over Supreme Court proceedings, as well as presidential impeachment trials (U.S. Const. art. 1, § 3, cl.6). Other duties and responsibilities include: admitting lawyers to the Supreme Court Bar; enforcing standards of courtroom dress and decorum; controlling the flow of judicial proceedings; serving as Circuit Justice for the busy Fourth and District of Columbia Circuits as well as the Federal Circuit (each associate justice is assigned to a circuit court); chairing Court conferences on case selection and on argued cases; assigning the drafting of Court opinions.

2. Court Manager

The office of the Chief Justice differs from that of an associate justice only in the administrative duties, such as being the ceremonial leader where protocol dictates; assigning colleagues as circuit justices during recesses (28 U.S.C § 42); assigning a consenting retired predecessor or retiring Associate Justice to perform judicial duties in any Circuit (28 U.S.C § 294(1)); signing a certificate of disability for a Justice of the supreme Court... who desires to retire for disability. (28 U.S.C § 372(a)).

3. Court Defender

The Chief Justice plays the role of the court defender, safeguarding the U.S. Supreme Court as an institution, such as controlling the Justices' workload and protecting the status and political independence of the Court.

4. Third Branch Chieftain

In 1888, the title of the Chief Justice was changed from "chief justice of the Supreme Court of the United States" to "chief justice of the United States," implying the importance of the office of Chief Justice - not just of the Supreme Court, but of the United States' federal judiciary. The Chief Justice is also the Chair of the Judicial Conference of the United States - overseeing the federal judiciary. Since its creation in 1922 by Taft, the Conference has been chaired by the chief justice and has made policy and rules with regard to the administration of the United States courts. As the Chair, the Chief Justice presides over the Conference and controls the agenda. He also appoints the chairman of over twenty committees. He is also the Chair of the Board of the Federal Judicial Center. The primary function of the Center is to engage in research, training, and education for the judicial branch. In addition, much of the responsibility of appointing the director of the Administrative Office of the United States Courts and overseeing the Administrative Office's work falls on the Chief Justice. In 1970, Chief Justice Burger started a tradition of issuing on New Year's Day a Year-end Report on the Federal Judiciary. The report is available in the following publications:

• The Third Branch (a monthly newsletter of the Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts, 1968-present) summarized the major points of each report (1970-1989) and has published the full-text in the January issue since 1990. The publication is available in full text from 1995 to the present on the U.S. Courts Web site [http://www.uscourts.gov/ttb/index.html]. It is also available in the Law Library [ K24 .H35 (1980-present)].
• The American Bar Association Journal, the American Journal of Trial Advocacy, and the Chicago Daily Law Bulletin sporadically published full-text transcripts of the report.
• The year end report (2000-present) can also be accessed from the U.S. Supreme Court site [http://www.supremecourtus.gov/publicinfo/year-end/year-endreports.html]

5. Other Extra-Judicial Roles

Some of the functions that the Chief Justice is called upon to perform include administering the oath of office at presidential inaugurals and upon the inauguration of governors and secretaries of the several territories; and leading important presidential commissions.

Reference and Further Reading:

• Peter G. Fish, The Office of Chief Justice (1984). [KF8748 .O35 ]
  
  
• Robert J. Steamer, Chief Justice: Leadership and the Supreme Court (1986). [KF8744 .S74]
  
  
• Archibald Cox, The Court and the Constitution (1987). [KF4550 .C69]
  
  
• "Chief Justice, the Office of the," in The Oxford Companion to the Supreme Court of the United States (Kermit L. Hall ed., 2005). [KF8742 .A35 D93]
  
  
• Alan B. Morrison and D. Scott Stenhouse, The Chief Justice of the United States: More than Just the Highest Ranking Judge, 1 Const. Comment. 57 (1984).
  

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Supreme Court Nominations

Under Article II of the Constitution, the President has the power, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate, to appoint Judges of the Supreme Court. Since Supreme Court Justices are appointed for life, each nomination to the Supreme Court has a long-lasting influence on the Court and on the day-to-day life of every American. The most recent successful nomination to the Supreme Court was that of Justice Sonya Sotomayor.

For more information about the process and recent nominations, consult our Supreme Court Nominations Research Guide [http://www.ll.georgetown.edu/guides/supreme_court_nominations.cfm]

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Sources of Biographies of Justices

To find biographies, search the Library Catalog (GULLiver) for the subject "judges united states biography."

• The Justices of the Supreme Court (Supreme Court of the United States) [http://www.supremecourtus.gov/about/biographiescurrent.pdf]
  Brief biographies of current justices.
  
  
• Members of the Supreme Court (Supreme Court of the United States) [http://www.supremecourtus.gov/about/members.pdf]
  Brief information (name, state appointed from, appointed by President, date judicial oath taken and date service was terminated) about justices since the beginning of the Supreme Court.
  
  
• Clare Cushman, The Supreme Court Justices: Illustrated Biographies, 1789-1995 (1995). [KF8744 .S86]
  
  
• Leon Friedman and Fred L. Israel, The Justices of the United States Supreme Court, 1789-1978: Their Lives and Major Opinions (1980). [KF8744 .F75]
  Includes excerpts from the Justices' opinions as well as biographical information. There is a more recent edition published in 1997 which concludes with Justice Breyer.
  
  
• The Supreme Court Justices: A Biographical Dictionary (Melvin I. Urofsky ed., 1994). [KF8744 .S859]
  
  
• Timothy L. Hall, Supreme Court Justices: A Biographical Dictionary (2001). [KF8744.H35]
  
  
• Fenton Martin and Robert U. Goehlert, The U.S. Supreme Court: A Bibliography (1990). [KF8741 .A1 M37] has a section on Justices.
  
  
• Memorials of the Justices of the Supreme Court of the United States (compiled with a preface and index by Roger F. Jacobs, 1981). [KF8744 .M45]
  A collection of commemorative memorial addresses of 35 Supreme Court Justices in 5 volumes.
  
  
• ABC-CLIO Supreme Court Handbooks series has published in-depth studies of Chief Justices (Burger, Hughes, Stone, Taft, Taney, Vinson, Warren) and their legacy.
  
  
• U.S. Supreme Court Justices: A List of All Supreme Court Justices (Oyez: U.S. Supreme Court Multimedia) http://www.oyez.org/courts/roberts/robt2
  It includes biographical information as well as links to descriptions of major cases.
  
  

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Sources of Personal Papers of Justices

• Papers of Supreme Court Justices: Earl Warren. KF8745.W3 U55 Micro
  Reproduced from the Manuscript Division of the Library of Congress, this 70 real microfilm collection contains all the opinions of Chief Justice Earl Warren, as well as conference memoranda and correspondence from 1953 through 1974.
  
• Online Finding Aids to the Papers of Supreme Court Justices (Mark Holman, Reference Librarian, Tarlton Law Library) [http://tarlton.law.utexas.edu/vlibrary/spct/justices.html]
  
  
• Federal Judges Biographical Database (Federal Judiciary Center)
  [http://www.fjc.gov/public/home.nsf/hisj]
  Includes all Federal judges, not just Supreme Court Justices. Biographical information includes location of manuscript sources.
  
  
• Locations of the Justices' Personal Papers, Table 5-11 in Lee Epstein Et al., The Supreme Court Compendium, 418-427 (3d ed. 2003). [KF8742 .S914]
  
  
• Manuscript Division Finding Aids Online (Library of Congress Manuscript Reading Room) [http://www.loc.gov/rr/mss/f-aids/mssfa.html]
  Provides detailed registers of papers belonging to important figures in American history – including fifteen Supreme Court Justices (Hugo L. Black, Harry A. Blackmum, William J. Brennan, Harold H. Burton, William O. Douglas, Felix Frankfurter, Arthur J. Goldberg, Charles Evans Hughes, Robert Houghwout Jackson, Thurgood Marshall, Wiley Rutledge, William Howard Taft, Earl Warren, Byron R. White, Levi Woodbury) - in the Library of Congress.
  
  
• Alexandra K. Wigdor, The Personal Papers of Supreme Court Justices: A Descriptive Guide (1986). [KF8744 .W55]
  The Guide describes the personal paper collection of each justice – the location, source, size, provenance and status, and access.
  
  

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Financial Disclosures

Federal legislation - Ethics in Government Act of 1978, 5 U.S.C. app. 4 §§ 101-11 (2005) - requires Supreme Court justices and other federal personnel file periodic financial disclosure statements. The Committee on Financial Disclosure of the Judicial Conference of the United States reviews financial disclosure reports filed by judges and other judicial branch officers and employees as required by the Ethics in Government Act. and respond to requests for redaction of such reports, consistent with the Regulations of the Judicial Conference of the United States on Access to Financial Disclosure Reports Filed by Judges and Judiciary Employees Under the Ethics in Government Act of 1978, as amended. The Committee also responds to inquiries regarding financial disclosure matters from judges, employees, and the public. These financial disclosure reports are available:

• upon request from the Committeee on Financial Disclosure of the Judicial Conference of the United States, request form AO 0010a [http://www.uscourts.gov/forms/AO010a.pdf] is available from the Federal Judiciary Web site [http://www.uscourts.gov/].
• on the Web site of Judicial Watch - Judicial Financial Disclosures Project [ http://www.judicialwatch.org/judicial-financial-disclosure]

DOCUMENTS

In a typical year, over 7,000 petitions are filed with the Supreme Court for review of lower court decisions. The Court denies review in the vast majority of cases, and, in recent years, has issued full opinions in fewer than 100 cases each term.  The Court and the parties who argue before it produce many documents, including not only opinions but also orders, briefs, and arguments.

Opinions

Opinions of the Supreme Court are widely reported and readily available in printed reporters, loose-leaf services, online databases, and the web. Supreme Court cases are usually available first on Westlaw, and very shortly thereafter on Lexis and the web. Listed below are the major sources of Supreme Court opinions and information on how to find opinions in these various sources.

For comprehensive information about opinions, read the Court's web pages "Information about Opinions" [http://www.supremecourtus.gov/opinions/info_opinions.html] and "Where to Obtain Supreme Court Opinions" [http://www.supremecourtus.gov/opinions/obtainopinions.pdf].

• Lexis and Westlaw. Opinions first appear on Westlaw (SCT database) and Lexis (Legal > Cases - U.S. > U.S. Supreme Court Cases, Lawyers' Edition) within an hour after the Court announces its decisions. All decisions of the Court, including denials of certiorari and grants or denials of motions, are available online through Lexis and Westlaw. On Westlaw, decisions prior to 1945 are in the SCT-OLD database. Using a segments search on Lexis or fields search on Westlaw, you can easily get a list of opinions:
  • by a particular justice
  • argued by a particular attorney
  • involving a particular party
  • Some examples are set forth below.

Type of Search	Lexis		Westlaw
	Segment	Search	Field	Search
Majority Opinions by a Justice	Opinionby	O'Connor	JU	O'Connor
All Opinions by a Justice	Writtenby	O'Connor	JU, SY	JU(O'Connor) or SY(O'Connor +s concur! dissent!)
All Cases Argued by an Attorney or Law Firm	Counsel	Thurgood /2 Marshall	AT	Thurgood /2 Marshall
All Cases Involving a Party	Name	AFL-CIO	TI	AFL-CIO

• Hein Online
  HeinOnline provides searchable and browseable PDF versions of every volume of the Supreme Court’s official reporter, United States Reports, through its U.S. Supreme Court Library. 
  
  
• There are educational, government, and commercial web sites that offer judicial decisions free of charge; however, these databases are not comprehensive and do not provide the sophisticated searching that is available on Lexis or Westlaw.  If you need to do a comprehensive search for Supreme Court cases, use Westlaw or Lexis. If you just want to locate the text of an opinion, any of the following are good web sites to use:
  • United States Supreme Court Home Page http://www.supremecourtus.gov/opinions/opinions.html
    Opinions are available beginning with the October, 2002 term.
  • Justia http://supreme.justia.com/
    Searchable database of all Supreme Court decisions. Also, browsable by year, or volume of United States Reports.
  • Findlaw http://supreme.lp.findlaw.com/
    Findlaw offers a searchable database of Supreme Court decisions dating back to 1893. This database is browsable by year and U.S. Reports volume number and is searchable by citation, case name, and full text.
  • Legal Information Institute http://supct.law.cornell.edu/supct/
    The Cornell University Legal Information Institute offers Supreme Court opinions under Project Hermes, the Court's electronic dissemination project. This archive contains all opinions of the court issued since May 1990 and over 600 historic decisions prior to that date.
  • GPO Access Supreme Court Decisions (1937-1975 and 1992 - 2000) http://www.gpoaccess.gov/judicial.html
    This database is being made available by the Government Printing Office to the public as a finding aid to the official version of the United States Reports. This site covers the years 1937-1975 and 1992-2000 and is searchable by full text, case name and citation.
    
    
• Reporters. Opinions of the Supreme Court are reported in three printed reporters: the official United States Reports, and the two unofficial reporters, West's Supreme Court Reporter and Lexis Law Publishing's United States Reports, Lawyer's Edition. (Reading Room and 5th Floor) Each of these reporters has bound volumes and advance sheets. For the unofficial reporters, cases first appear in the advance sheets approximately four to six weeks after the date of the decision. It takes several years for the print volumes of the official United States Reports to be published. All three reporters have the full text of Supreme Court decisions. In addition, Lawyer's Edition publishes annotations on three to five cases published in each reporter, and West’s Supreme Court Reporter includes West topics and key numbers to assist you in finding additional cases on a particular topic.  United States Reports is available in PDF via HeinOnline [http://www.ll.georgetown.edu/connect/hein_access.cfm].
  

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Orders

The Supreme Court issues orders related to the grant or denial of certiorari, stays, motions in pending cases, mandamus, rehearings, permission to file amicus briefs, and attorney discipline. These orders can be found in the following places:

• Westlaw: SCT database
  
  
• Lexis: Legal > Cases - U.S. > U.S. Supreme Court Cases, Lawyers' Edition
  
• United States Supreme Court Home Page [http://www.supremecourtus.gov/orders/orders.html] (October 2003 term - present)
  
  
• Findlaw [http://supreme.lp.findlaw.com/supreme_court/orders/index.html] (October 1998 term - present)
  
  
• Legal Information Institute
  • Browsable current month [http://supct.law.cornell.edu/supct/orderlists.php]
  • Searchable database back to the October 1998 term [http://supct.law.cornell.edu/supct/orderinquiry.php]

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Petitions for Certiorari

A petition for certiorari is a filing asking the Court to hear a case. Review by the Supreme Court is not guaranteed; a party desiring such review must use the cert. petition to persuade the Court to hear the case. Supreme Court cert. petitions are available from the following sources:

• Lexis & Westlaw. Selected petitions for certiorari and related briefs are available on Lexis (Legal > Federal Legal - U.S. > Supreme Court Cases & Materials > U.S. Supreme Court Briefs; selected petitions from 1979 - present; coverage is more complete for cases in which cert. is granted and in civil cases) and Westlaw (selected petitions only: SCT-PETITION; granted petitions, 1990 - ; denied petitions, 1995 - present).
  
  
• U.S. Supreme Court Records & Briefs, 1832-1978. This database contains nearly 11 million pages of records and briefs brought before the U.S. Supreme Court in the period 1832-1978. Includes materials from approximately 150,000 Supreme Court cases, including cases where certiorari was denied.
  
  
• SCOTUSBLOG (Supreme Court of the United States Blog [http://www.scotusblog.com/movabletype/]. This blog has up to the minute coverage of the Court and links to petitions under the New Filings tab [http://www.scotusblog.com/movabletype/archives/new_filings/].
  
  
• Findlaw [http://supreme.lp.findlaw.com/supreme_court/briefs/index.html]. Provides selected petition-stage briefs for cases where argument has been scheduled, beginning with the October 1999 term.
  
  
• Landmark Briefs and Arguments of the Supreme Court of the United States [KF 101.9 .L3]. Provides documents, including cert. petitions, from major constitutional law cases since 1793. In recent years, this set has covered 10-15 cases each term; fewer cases were covered in earlier years.
  
  
• Antitrust Law: Major Briefs and Oral Arguments of the Supreme Court of the United States, 1955 term-1975 term (Phillip B. Kurland and Gerhard Casper ed., 1975). [KF1641 .A57]
  
  
• Microfiche. Media Services (First Floor) has an extensive collection of older Supreme Court briefs, including some cert. petitions:
  • 1832-1896. Access to materials from this time period requires the use of an index. Provides cert. petitions only for cases where cert. was granted.
  • 1897-1972. The materials are arranged by the official U.S. Reports citation. Before the October 1960 term, provides cert. petitions only for cases where cert. was granted. From October 1960 to 1972, provides cert. petitions in cert. denied cases as well.
  • 1973-present. The briefs are arranged by docket number. Provides cert. petitions for all cases, whether cert. was granted or denied.
    
• BriefServe [http://www.briefserve.com/home.asp]. Provides materials including cert. petitions from 1984 ($25 per brief).

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Briefs

Parties to each case considered by the Supreme Court file briefs related to the merits of the case. Non-parties hoping to influence the Court’s decision in a case may also be permitted to file briefs as amici curiae (friends of the court).  Reading the briefs can be useful for in-depth study of the facts of a case and the arguments advanced by all parties and interested non-parties. The library has briefs from all cases decided by the Supreme Court from 1832 to the present, and for all cases where the Court denied review beginning in 1982. For information on the availability of briefs for cert. denied cases prior to 1982, ask at the Media Services desk on the First Floor of the Library. Briefs are available online first, and 6-8 weeks later in microfiche. For cert. denied cases, briefs are available on microfiche approximately 8-10 weeks after the Court denies review, or in Westlaw's SCT-PETITION database from 1995 on (selected cases only). Briefs from many cert. denied cases decided between 1832 and 1978 are also available in the database U.S. Supreme Records & Briefs, 1832-1978 [http://www.ll.georgetown.edu/connect/sp_ct.cfm].

Where to Find Merit Briefs

• Lexis & Westlaw. On Westlaw, the SCT-BRIEFS database provides all merit briefs from all cases where the Court granted review from the October 1990 term to the present, while SCT-BRIEFS-ALL contains those same briefs and selected additional briefs dated between 1870 and 1989.  On Lexis, the database Legal > Federal Legal - U.S. > Supreme Court Cases & Materials > U.S. Supreme Court Briefs provides merit briefs for cases in which the Court granted review, from January 1979 to the present. The table below presents some useful sample searches:

Type of Search	Lexis		Westlaw
	Segment Name	Search	Field Name	Search
Docket Number	Number	93-1260	DN	93-1260
Case Name	Name	United States and Alfonso Lopez	TI	"United States" & "Alfonso Lopez"

• U.S. Supreme Court Records & Briefs, 1832-1978 [http://www.ll.georgetown.edu/connect/sp_ct.cfm]. This database contains nearly 11 million pages of records and briefs brought before the U.S. Supreme Court in the period 1832-1978. Includes materials from approximately 150,000 Supreme Court cases, including cases where certiorari was denied.
  
  
• SCOTUSWiki (Supreme Court of the United States Wiki [http://www.scotuswiki.com/index.php]. This website collects documents related to pending cases beginning in October Term 2007.
  
• Findlaw [http://supreme.lp.findlaw.com/supreme_court/briefs/index.html]. Provides merit briefs for cases where argument has been scheduled, beginning with the October 1999 term.
  
  
• American Bar Association Home Page [http://www.abanet.org/publiced/preview/briefs/home.html]. Provides merit briefs for cases where argument has been scheduled, beginning with the October 2003 term.
  
  
• Office of the Solicitor General [http://www.usdoj.gov/osg/briefs/search.html]. All briefs filed by the Solicitor General with the Supreme Court on or after July 1, 1998, except for responses to petitions in "in forma pauperis" or "IFP" cases. Keyword searchable and subject browseable.
  
  
  
• Landmark Briefs and Arguments of the Supreme Court of the United States [KF 101.9 .L3]. Contains briefs filed in major constitutional law cases since 1793. In recent years, this set has covered 10-15 cases each term; fewer cases were covered in earlier years.
  
  
• Antitrust Law: Major Briefs and Oral Arguments of the Supreme Court of the United States, 1955 term-1975 term (Phillip B. Kurland & Gerhard Casper ed., 1975). [KF1641 .A57]
  
  
• Microfiche. Media Services (First Floor) has an extensive collection of older Supreme Court briefs:
  • 1832-1896. Access to briefs from this time period requires the use of an index.
  • 1897-1972. The briefs are arranged by the official U.S. Reports citation.
  • 1973-present. The briefs are arranged by docket number.

• BriefServe [http://www.briefserve.com/home.asp]. Provides briefs from 1984 ($25 per brief).

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Where to Find Amicus Briefs

• Lexis & Westlaw. On Westlaw, the SCT-BRIEFS database provides amicus briefs from the October 1995 term to the present, while SCT-BRIEFS-ALL contains those same briefs and selected additional briefs between 1870 and 1994.  On Lexis, the database Legal > Federal Legal - U.S. > Supreme Court Cases & Materials > U.S. Supreme Court Briefs provides amicus briefs from January 1979 to the present. See the table under "Where to Find Merit Briefs" for useful sample searches.
  
  
• U.S. Supreme Court Records & Briefs, 1832-1978 [http://www.ll.georgetown.edu/connect/sp_ct.cfm]. This database contains nearly 11 million pages of records and briefs brought before the U.S. Supreme Court in the period 1832-1978. Includes materials from approximately 150,000 Supreme Court cases, including cases where certiorari was denied.
  
  
• SCOTUSWiki (Supreme Court of the United States Wiki [http://www.scotuswiki.com/index.php]. This website collects documents related to pending cases beginning in October Term 2007.
  
• Office of the Solicitor General [http://www.usdoj.gov/osg/briefs/search.html]. All briefs filed by the Solicitor General with the Supreme Court on or after July 1, 1998, except for responses to petitions in "in forma pauperis" or "IFP" cases. Keyword searchable and subject browseable.
  
  
• Curiae Project (Yale Law School) [http://curiae.law.yale.edu/]. Records, briefs and other relevant materials for some of the most cited Supreme Court cases are made available for free. Selected cases and briefs only. Selections are made on the basis of citation patterns.
  
  
• Landmark Briefs and Arguments of the Supreme Court of the United States [KF 101.9 .L3]. Contains briefs filed in major constitutional law cases since 1793. In recent years, this set has covered 10-15 cases each term; fewer cases were covered in earlier years.
  
  
• Antitrust Law: Major Briefs and Oral Arguments of the Supreme Court of the United States, 1955 term-1975 term (Phillip B. Kurland & Gerhard Casper ed., 1975). [KF1641 .A57 ]
  
  
• Microfiche. Media Services (First Floor) has an extensive collection of older Supreme Court briefs:
  • 1832-1896. Access to briefs from this time period requires the use of an index.
  • 1897-1972. The briefs are arranged by the official U.S. Reports citation.
  • 1973-present. The briefs are arranged by docket number.
    
• BriefServe [http://www.briefserve.com/home.asp]. Provides briefs from 1984 ($25 per brief).

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Oral Arguments

• United States Supreme Court Home Page [http://www.supremecourtus.gov/oral_arguments/argument_transcripts.html]. Provides transcripts of oral arguments beginning with the 2000 term; transcripts are made available on the same day as the argument. Although same day transcripts are official, they are subject to review. The transcripts will be permanently archived on the Court's web site.
  
  
• Lexis has coverage beginning with the 1979 term (Legal > Federal Legal - U.S. > Supreme Court Cases & Materials > United States Supreme Court Transcripts).
  
  
• Westlaw has a database, SCT-ORALARG, with the full text of oral arguments beginning in 1990
  
  
• The OYEZ Project [http://www.oyez.org/]. OYEZ has digitized recordings of the Court's proceedings. There are over 600 oral arguments from leading cases in constitutional law currently available with more added each year. The recordings of oral arguments at the National Archives provide the source material for this site. Available arguments begin in 1961 with Mapp v. Ohio and McGowan v. Maryland; there are a few arguments from the 1950s. Current arguments are not available until approximately 10 months after the end of a term.
  
  
• Landmark Briefs and Arguments of the Supreme Court of the United States [KF 101.9 .L3]. Contains briefs filed in major constitutional law cases since 1793. In recent years, this set has covered 10-15 cases each term; fewer cases were covered in earlier years.
  
  
• Antitrust Law: Major Briefs and Oral Arguments of the Supreme Court of the United States, 1955 term-1975 term (Phillip B. Kurland & Gerhard Casper, 1975). [KF1641 .A57]
  
  
• May it Please the Court: The Most Significant Oral Arguments Made Before the Supreme Court Since 1955 [Media Services First Floor, KF4748 M39 ] provides audiotaped oral arguments in 23 well-known Supreme Court cases. Among the cases included are: Gideon v. Wainwright; Miranda v. Arizona; Roe v. Wade; and the Nixon Watergate tapes.
  
  
• National Archives, College Park, Maryland [http://www.archives.gov]. Audiotapes of oral arguments in Supreme Court cases since the mid-1950s are available at the Archives II building in College Park, Maryland. For information on hours and access to the tapes, call the Sound Recording Division at (301) 713-6790.
  
  
• Microfiche. The microfiche set Complete Oral Arguments of the Supreme Court of the United States [Media Services, First Floor] provides transcripts of all oral arguments before the Court since 1969 and selected arguments from 1953-1968. Prior to 1969, oral arguments were not regularly transcribed. The transcripts are received once a year, usually about 6-8 months after the end of the term.
  
  
• Supreme Court Oral Arguments: [of University of Michigan affirmative action cases] [KF4755.5 S86]. The 2003 University of Michigan affirmative action cases were published by C-SPAN in 1 videocassette (featuring still picture images of the participants with audio only original broadcast on April 1, 2003 on C-SPAN Radio).
  
  
• C-SPAN's America and the Courts also has the oral arguments (featuring still picture images of the participants with audio) of Rasul v. Bush, Al Odah V. U.S., Cheney v. U.S. District Court, Hamdi v. Rumsfeld, and Rumsfeld v. Padilla.

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Dockets

The docket is a list of cases before the Court at a given point in time – those in which the Court has granted certiorari, even if argument has not been scheduled.  In addition, docket sheets for each case show the actions taken in a case, including motions filed, orders entered, and arguments heard. Some of the docket sources below also provide questions presented, fact summaries, and links to selected documents such as briefs:

• The "Supreme Court Today" in United States Law Week [KF105 .U6] provides lists of and status information for cases in which certiorari has been granted. Also available:
  • BNA United States Law Week [http://www.ll.georgetown.edu/connect/lawweek_bna.cfm]
  • Lexis (Legal > Federal Legal - U.S. > Supreme Court Cases & Materials > BNA U.S. Law Week Supreme Court Today) and Westlaw (BNA-USLWSCT)
    
    
• Westlaw. The DOCK-SCT database has docket sheets for individual Supreme Court cases back to the October 2000 term.
  
  
• United States Supreme Court Home Page [http://www.supremecourtus.gov/docket/docket.html] (October 2000 term - ; questions presented available from March 29, 2004 - ).  Searchable database of docket sheets.
  
  
• On the Docket: Northwestern University’s U.S. Supreme Court News [http://docket.medill.northwestern.edu/].  In addition to case list, provides questions presented, counsel lists, selected briefs, lower court opinions, and background information on each case. (October 1998 term - present)
  
  
• FindLaw’s U.S. Supreme Court Center [http://supreme.lp.findlaw.com/].  In addition to case lists, provides questions presented, merits briefs, docket sheets, and lower court opinions. (October 2001 term - present)
  
  
• United States Supreme Court Monitor: Certiorari Granted [http://www.law.com/jsp/scm/cur.jsp].  In addition to case list, provides questions presented, counsel lists, and citations to the opinions below. (Current only)
  
  

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Finding Tools

Digests

Both West and Lexis Law Publishing publish digests specifically for Supreme Court cases. Both digests provide case summaries and contain a Table of Cases which lists in alphabetical order every case decided by the Supreme Court, with a citation to the full text of the decision. For more information on using case law digest, see the Library's research guide "Using Digests" [http://www.ll.georgetown.edu/guides/digests.cfm]

• West's United States Supreme Court Digest [KF101.1 .A32]
  
  
• Lexis Law Publishing's Digest of United States Supreme Court Reports [KF101.1 .D5]
  
  

Indexes

• Linda A. Blandford, Supreme Court of the United States, 1789-1980: An Index to Opinions Arranged by Justice (1983). [KF101.6 .B57 v. 1 1789-1902 & v. 1902-1980]. Lists opinions (including dissents and concurrences) written by each justice from 1789 to 1980. Provides citations, but no summaries.
  
  
• Nancy Anderman Guenther, United States Supreme Court Decisions: An Index to Excerpts, Reprints, and Discussions (2d ed. 1983). [KF101.6 .G83]. Provides citations to books and articles published between 1960 and 1980 that have discussed, reprinted, or excerpted various Supreme Court cases. Includes citations to many publications not covered by Shepard’s Citations or KeyCite (see the section on Citators, below)
  
  
• Timothy John Fox Alden, Index to the Reports of the Decisions of the Supreme Court of the United States. From Dallas to 14 Howard Inclusive [1790-1852] (1984).[ KF101.6 .A4]. Subject index to the Court’s earliest cases.

Citators

• Lexis. On Lexis, it is possible to Shepardize Supreme Court cases using their U.S. Reports, Supreme Court Reporter, or Lawyers’ Edition citations. It is also possible to Shepardize the Court’s rules, using the citation format Sup. Ct. R. #. Shepardizing a court rule will only tell you whether it has been cited by any decision or secondary source; it will not tell you whether the rule has been superseded.
  
  
• Westlaw. On Westlaw, it is possible to KeyCite Supreme Court cases using their U.S. Reports, Supreme Court Reporter, or Lawyers’ Edition citations. It is also possible to KeyCite the Court’s rules, using the citation format S. Ct. Rule #. KeyCiting a court rule will only tell you whether it has been cited by any decision or secondary source; it will not tell you whether the rule has been superseded.
  
  

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SUPREME COURT RULES & PRACTICE MATERIALS

Rules

Court rules prescribe procedures for practice in the courts, including the U.S. Supreme Court.  The Supreme Court rules dictate such matters as how to petition for writ of certiorari, how to be admitted to the Supreme Court bar, and how to conduct an oral argument before the Court. The Rules of the U.S. Supreme Court are available from the sources below:

• On Lexis, the Court’s current rules are found in Legal > Federal Legal - U.S. > Court Rules > Individual Circuit Rules > USCS - Rules of the Supreme Court of the United States.
  
  
• On Westlaw, rules are found in the database US-RULES, along with the rules of many other federal courts. To limit your Westlaw search to the rules of the Supreme Court, do a terms and connectors search that includes the following field restriction: ci(“s ct rule").
  
  
• United States Supreme Court Home Page [http://www.supremecourtus.gov/ctrules/ctrules.html]. Provides the text of the rules with a subject index. Unannotated.
  
  
• The Legal Information Institute [http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/html/uscode28a/usc_sup_05_28_10_sq6.html]. Provides the unannotated text of the rules.
  
  
• Federal Civil Judicial Procedure and Rules [KF8816 .A194]. Provides the unannotated text of the rules. A single index provides subject access to all of the rule sets (e.g., Supreme Court Rules, Federal Rules of Civil Procedure) in the volume.
  
  
• Title 28, Appendix, of the United States Code, U.S. G.P.O. [KF62 1994 .A2]. Located at the end of the volume containing Title 28. Provides the text of the rules and advisory committee notes, but does not provide case annotations. This is an official source of federal court rules, however, it tends to be at least two or three years out of date.
  
  
• Title 28 Rules volumes of the United States Code Annotated, West Publishing Co. [KF62 1927.A3]. Located after the Title 28 volumes of U.S.C.A. Provides the text of rules, case annotations, and cross references to law review articles, West’s Legal Forms, West’s Federal Practice Manual, Wright and Miller’s Federal Practice and Procedure, and other secondary sources. An index to the Rules of the Supreme Court appears right at the end of those rules.
  
  
• Court Rules volumes of the United States Code Service, Lexis Publishing [KF62 1972.U5]. Located after the Title 50 volumes of U.S.C.S. Provides the text of the rules, case annotations, and cross references to law review articles, American Jurisprudence Trials, American Jurisprudence Pleading and Practice Forms, Moore’s Federal Practice, and other secondary sources. An index to the Rules of the Supreme Court appears at the end of the volume containing those rules.
  
  
• Rules of the Supreme Court of the United States [KF9056 .A19]. Provides historic rules only (1790-1990)

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Practice Materials

• Robert L. Stern et al., Supreme Court Practice: for Practice in the Supreme Court of the United States (2007). [KF9057 .S8]
  
  
• Case Handling Guides, United States Supreme Court Home Page [http://www.supremecourtus.gov/casehand/casehand.html]. Includes Guide to Filing Paid Cases, Guide to Filing In Forma Pauperis Cases, and Guide for Counsel in Cases to Be Argued.
  
  
• Bar Admissions, United States Supreme Court Home Page [http://www.supremecourtus.gov/bar/baradmissions.html]. Provides both instructions and the appropriate form for applying for admission to practice before the Supreme Court

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SECONDARY SOURCES

Encyclopedias, Dictionaries and Bibliographies

• The Supreme Court A to Z (Kenneth Jost ed., 2003). [KF8742 .A35 S8]
  "[A] comprehensive, ready-reference encyclopedia that offers accessible information about the Supreme Court, including its history, traditions, organization, dynamics, and personalities.  This [2003] edition also examines the array of important legal decisions that have shaped contemporary interpretations of the U.S. Constitution and the backgrounds of the fascinating but sometimes little-known individuals who as justices have decided the issues that affect every citizen." Contributors to this volume work at CQ Press.  Kenneth Jost is a lawyer and legal affairs journalist.
  
  
• Fenton Martin and Robert U. Goehlert, The U.S. Supreme Court: A Bibliography (1990). [KF8741 .A1 M37]
  “The volume contains citations about the Court, including its history, development, powers, and relations with the other branches of the federal government.  This book also focuses on the accomplishments and activities of the individual justices, including their private lives and public careers.”  The bibliography cites books, articles, dissertations, essays, and research reports, but not U.S. government documents, such as nomination hearings, memorials, or other government documents about the Court or individual justices. The time period covered is from 1850 to 1989.  Not annotated.
  
  
• The Oxford Companion to the Supreme Court of the United States (Kermit L. Hall ed., 2d ed. 2005) [KF8742 .A35 D93]
  " This book provides a comprehensive guide to the history and current operation of the Supreme Court...Biographic entries explore the personal and professional careers of all the justices, the nominees who were rejected by the Senate, the most prominent lawyers who have argued before the Court, and many other figures important in the Court’s history.  …Another category of entries treats concepts that are central either to the Court’s operation or to the meaning of American constitutionalism – including such protean topics as due process of law, separation of powers, and equal protection of the law...Institutional entries cover, in historical perspective, such topics as the office of the chief justice, the judicial clerks, the assignment and writing of opinions, and the justices’ workloads."  Some entries focus on the physical surroundings of the Court.  More than four hundred entries examine the Court’s decisions.  There are also essays that give coherent overviews of major bodies of the court’s work.  Four sweeping chronological essays provide an overview of crucial developments during the entire course of the Court’s history.  A final category of entries explains vocabulary and phrases.  Scholars from many different fields – law, political science and government, history, sociology, criminal justice, and anthropology – contribute to this Companion. They approached the Court as a hybrid political, social, economic, and cultural institution. There is a short bibliography after each entry.
  
  
• Lee Epstein, et al. The Supreme Court Compendium: Data, Decisions, and Developments (2007). [KF8742 .S914]
  An impressive collection of compilations and charts of information on the most important aspects of the U.S. Supreme Court, including its development as an institution, the justices’ backgrounds, nominations, and confirmations.
  
  
• Encyclopedia of Supreme Court Quotations (Christopher A. Anzalone ed., 2000). [KF8742 .A35 E529]
  About 900 passages are chosen to be included for their quotability – inherent beauty, literary quality, and profound philosophy.  The passages are grouped into thirteen chapters: legislative branch, executive branch, judiciary, constitutional law, history and political role of the country, states’ rights, Fourteenth Amendment (doctrines of due process and equal rights), free speech and free press, freedom of religion, evidence of how the court conceptualizes other personal freedoms and liberties, criminal law and criminal procedure, how international events influence American institutions, and everything else.
  
  
• David G. Savage, Guide to the U.S. Supreme Court (4th ed. 2004). [KF8742 .W567]
  A two-volume set conveying the story of the court’s history, conflicts decisions, workings, and impact.  Volume 1 details the Court’s decisions.  Volume 2 focuses on the Court’s institutional setting and how the justices go about their work.
  

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Journals

The following are selected journals that publish articles about the Supreme Court regularly. The journals are listed alphabetically.

• Cato Supreme Court Review [K3 .A8] (2001-present)
  In the Cato Supreme Court Review, leading legal scholars analyze the most important cases of the Supreme Court’s most recent term.  The Review is published annually on Constitution Day, September 17, in tandem with a major symposium.  It is the first scholarly review to appear after the term’s end and the only one to critique the court from a Madisonian perspective. 
  
  
• Constitutional Commentary (University of Minnesota) [K3 .O688]
  One of the few faculty-edited law journals in the country.  The journal publishes “shorter and less ponderous articles” as opposed to the more lengthy and heavily footnoted articles found in traditional law reviews. Also available in:
  • Hein Online (1984-2007)
  • Academic Search Premier (Nov 1996-present)
  • LegalTrac (1994-present)
  • Lexis
  • Westlaw
    
    
• Harvard Law Review [K8 .A85]
  "The November issue contains the Supreme Court Foreword, usually by a prominent constitutional scholar, the faculty Case Comment, and 24 Case Notes—analyses by third-year students of the most important decisions of the previous Supreme Court Term—and a compilation of Court statistics." Also available in:
  • Academic Search Premier (1964-present)
  • Hein Online (1887-2008)
  • JSTOR (1887-2005)
  • Lexis
  • Westlaw
    
    
• Hastings Constitutional Law Quarterly [K8 .A87]
  The country's oldest law journal devoted exclusively to constitutional law. Also available in:
  • Hein Online (1974-2007)
  • Lexis
  • Westlaw
    
    
• Journal of Supreme Court History: Yearbook of the Supreme Court History Society  [K10 .O715] (1990-present) Previously known as Yearbook - Supreme Court Historical Yearbook [KF8741 .A15] (1976-1980)
  “Published for the Supreme Court Historical Society, the journal and the society are dedicated to the collection and preservation of the history of the Supreme Court of the United States, and to expanding public awareness of that history and heritage.”
  
  
• Preview of United States Supreme Court Cases [K16 .R291] (Library keeps current 3 years only) Published by the Public Education Division of the American Bar Association, irregular, currently issued eight times a year. Also available on Lexis.
  
  
• Supreme Court Debates [KF3436 .A3 S86] (1998-present). Also available in:
  • Academic Search Premier (April 1998-present)
    
    
• Supreme Court Economic Review (The Law and Economics Center at George Mason University School of Law) [K23 .U35]
  "[A]n interdisciplinary journal that seeks to provide a forum for scholarship in law and economics, public choice and constitutional political economy.  Its approach is broad ranging and contributions will employ explicit or implicit economic reasoning for the analysis of legal issues, with special attention to Supreme Court decisions, judicial process, and institutional design.  The use of theoretical and empirical economic models is permitted, but papers are expected to be accessible to a general audience of judges, academic lawyers, and economists." Also available in:
  • Academic Search Premier (July 1997-present)
  • Hein Online (1982-2004)
  • JSTOR (1982-2003)
  • Lexis
  • Westlaw
    
    
• Supreme Court Opinions, October xxxx term (published by the Congressional Research Service, issued annually) available at:
  • Open CRS: Congressional Research Reports for the People [http://opencrs.cdt.org/]
    A project of the Center for Democracy & Technology that serves as a centralized location to learn about the Congressional Research Service and search for CRS reports that have been released to the public by members of Congress. Provides report summaries.
  • Thurgood Marshall Library, University of Maryland [http://www.law.umaryland.edu/marshall/crsreports/index.asp]
  • University of North Texas Library [http://digital.library.unt.edu/govdocs/crs/index.tkl]
  • The Law Library also has a collection of CRS Reports on microfiche. Check the index to this collection to find out if the CRS report you are looking for is in the collection. The index is called: A Guide to Major Studies and Issue Briefs of the Congressional Research Service [JK1108 .M34 ]
    
    
• Supreme Court Review (University of Chicago) [K23 .U4] (1960-present)
  “[A]n in-depth annual critique of the Supreme Court and its work, keeping up on the forefront of the origins, reforms, and interpretations of American law.  SCR is written by and for legal academics, judges, political scientists, journalists, historians, economists, policy planners, and sociologists." Available in:
  • JSTOR (1960-2003)
  • Hein Online (1960-2003)
  • Academic Search Premier (1996-present)
  • Lexis
  • Westlaw
    
    
• Supreme Court Yearbook (Congressional Quarterly, Inc., 1991-present, last received 2000-2001) [KF8741 .A152 S95]
  
  
• The Third Branch (Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts, 1968-present) Monthly newsletter [K24 .H34] (v. 12, 1980 –present).  Full text available online starting with February 1995 issue at http://www.uscourts.gov/ttb/index90s.htm
  
  
• University of Pennsylvania Journal of Constitutional Law [K25 .N687] Also available:
  • Hein Online (1998-2008)
  • Lexis
  • Westlaw
    
    
• William and Mary Bill of Rights Journal [K27 .I44] Also available:
  • Hein Online (1992-present)
  • Lexis

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Journal Articles

• Related Literature for United States Supreme Court Judicial Database, 1953-1997 Terms (ICPSR 9422) Journal Articles [http://www.icpsr.umich.edu/cgi/CITATIONS/search?path=ICPSR
  &method=study&order=year&study=9422&stpubtype=Journal%20Article]
  A selected bibliography of literature about the Supreme Court, prepared by the Inter-University Consortium for Political and Social Research to accompany its United States Supreme Court Judicial Database, 1953-1997 Terms.
  

Current Awareness

• Supreme Court Today (US Law Week) [http://pubs.bna.com/ip/bna/lwt.nsf/MainView] (Georgetown Law only)
  Updated daily, it is also searchable. The database contains the status of and summaries of certiorari petitions filed since the 1995 October Term, full text of Supreme Court opinions, oral argument schedules, selected oral argument summaries, and annual reviews of Court's decisions.
  
  
• Liibulletin – free current awareness service via e-mail, distributing the syllabi of U.S. Supreme Court decisions in bulletin format within hours after their release.  Sign up info.
  
  
• Supreme Court Previews – explores cases currently before the US Supreme Court.  Its editorial board comprises second- and third-year law students.  Bulletin content is available on the Web [http://supct.law.cornell.edu/supct/cert/] and by email subscription [http://liibulletin.law.cornell.edu/].
  
  
• Supreme Court (JURIST) [http://jurist.law.pitt.edu/currentawareness/ussupremes.php]
  
  
• Washington Post Supreme Court section
  
  
• SCOTUS Blog [http://www.scotusblog.com/movabletype/]
  A blog dedicated to Supreme Court cases and petitions. It is maintained by the law firm of Akin Gump.
  
  
• On the Docket [http://docket.medill.northwestern.edu/]
  A US Supreme Court News blog maintained by the Medill School of Journalism, Northwestern University.
  
  
• Supreme Court Monitor [http://www.law.com/jsp/scm/index.jsp]
  An online publication by Law.com providing recent U.S. Supreme Court news. It also provides access to a searchable database of certiorari granted in the past year as well as a searchable database of decisions passed down in the past 3 years. Requires free registration.
  
  
  

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Databases

• Legal Periodicals and Books (Georgetown Law Only)
  Database of article listings from nearly 1,000 English language legal periodicals & law books published from 1982 to the present. Publications include law reviews, bar association journals, university publications, yearbooks, & government publications. Can be searched together with Legal Periodicals & Books Retro database (1918 to 1981). Available in print in the Williams Library Reading Room and Wolff Library reference [KF8 .I4]. Also available on Lexis and Westlaw.
  
  
• LegalTrac (Georgetown Law Only)
  Cumulative indexing of approximately 875 legal publications. Also includes law related articles from more than 1,000 additional business and general interest periodicals. Coverage begins in 1980. Available in print as Current Law Index [KF8 .C8]. Also available on Lexis and Westlaw.
  
  
• Academic Search Premier (Georgetown Law only)
  Provides full text for over 4,600 publications covering academic areas of study including social sciences, humanities, education, and linguistics, arts & literature, medical sciences, and ethnic studies. Over 8,200 titles are abstracted and indexed, of which approximately 3,600 are peer-reviewed. Coverage: 1975 – present. Subject terms: United States Supreme Court.
  
  
• America: History and Life (Georgetown Law only)
  Primary index to research in U.S. and Canadian history. Provides abstracts of scholarly literature on the history and culture of the U.S. and Canada from pre-historic times to the present. Covers 1800 journals in many languages and includes citations to book reviews, media reviews and dissertations. Coverage: 1954 – present. Subject terms: Supreme Court.
  
  
• International Political Science Abstracts (Georgetown Law on-campus access only)
  Indexes and abstracts articles from major political science journals. Covers theory, government, political process, international relations, and national and area studies. Descriptor: Supreme Court USA.
  
  
• PAIS International (Public Affairs Information Service International) (Georgetown Law on-campus access only)
  Indexes public policy and public affairs literature in many formats (books, periodical articles, government documents, reports, etc.). Covers government, business, law, international relations, public administration, banking and finance, health, environment, and education. Descriptor: United States Supreme Court.
  
  
• Worldwide Political Science Abstract (Georgetown Law on-campus only)
  Indexes and abstracts articles from over 1,400 political science and international relations journals. Descriptor: United States Supreme Court.
  
  
• Policy File (Georgetown Law only)
  Abstracts of data from public policy think tanks, university research programs and publishers, with coverage from 1990. Links to organizational home pages and to full text documents, where available. No particular subject heading for Supreme Court, depends on the issues.
  
  
• Hein Online (Georgetown Law only)
  Legal database that contains the full text of legal documents in pdf format, in several collections. The Law Journal Library contains articles from most major law reviews and law journals. Approximately 650 law journals and reviews are included, beginning with the inception date of each publication. Individual journals, or the entire collection, are fully searchable by author or word in title, or keyword or phrase in full text.
  
  
• JSTOR (Georgetown Law only)
  This database includes the full text of the articles from 340 scholarly paper journals, most beginning with the first volume. Coverage excludes articles from the most recent 3 to 5 years. PDF format. Searching is available across all bibliographic fields and in the full text.
  

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Datasets and Statistical Sources

• The S. Sidney Ulmer Project: U.S. Supreme Court Databases (Compiled by Harold J. Spaeth) - this site includes the following datasets in SPSS, STATA, SAS, ASCII formats with documentation: The Original U.S. Supreme Court Judicial Database, The Vinson-Warren Court Database, 1946-1968 Terms, The Burger Court Database, 1969-1985 Terms, The Justice-Centered Rehnquist Court Database, 1986-1998, The Justice-Centered Burger Court Database, 1969-1985 Terms, The Justice-Centered Warren Court Database, 1953-1969 Terms. Data include citations and docket numbers; origin and source of the case, and the reason the Court agreed to decide the case; date of decision, term of Court; legal provisions, issues, direction of decision; disposition of the case; conference vote and final vote.
  Also available through United States Supreme Court Judicial Database Terms Series (ICPSR Inter-university Consortium for Political and Social Research, University of Michigan)
  
  
• The U.S. Supreme Court Justices Database (Funded by the National Science Foundation, Law and Social Science Program; Professor Lee Epstein from Washington University is the Principal Investigator) - "This is a multi-user, public database containing a wealth of information on individuals nominated (whether confirmed or not) to the U.S. Supreme Court. Specifically, the database houses 356 variables, falling roughly into five categories: identifiers, background characteristics and personal attributes, nomination and confirmation, service on the Court, and departures from the bench."
• ScotusWiki has posted Professor Thomas Goldstein's statistics from October Term 1995 to the present. These statistics have been published in US Law Week and include general and Justice-specific numbers.
  
• Albert P. Blaustein and Roy M. Mersky, The First One Hundred Justices: Statistical Studies on the Supreme Court of the United States (1978) [KF8741 .A152 B6]
  
  

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Research Guides

Some of the freely available research guides in the order of comprehensiveness are:

• U.S. Supreme Court (Duke University Law Library) [http://www.law.duke.edu/lib/researchguides/ussup.html]
  
  
• United States Supreme Court Research: Getting Started (University of San Francisco, Dorraine Zief Law Library) [http://www.usfca.edu/law_library/supres.html]
  
  
• Web Guide to U.S. Supreme Court Research (Gail Partin for LLRX) [http://www.llrx.com/features/supremectwebguide.htm]
  
  
• Research Tools for Finding Supreme Court Information (Tarlton Law Library) [http://tarlton.law.utexas.edu/vlibrary/spct/]
  
  
• Researching the Supreme Court of the United States - by Jill Ann Duffy and Elizabeth Ardell Laub Lambert (Supreme Court Historical Society) [http://www.supremecourthistory.org/06_research/06.html]
  Focuses on the history of the Court.
  

Web Sites

• United States Supreme Court Web site [http://www.supremecourtus.gov/]
  The official Web site of the US Supreme Court. The Web site provides background information about the Court, as well as opinions (1991 term -present), briefs (through the ABA Website, 2003 term - present), argument transcripts (2000 term - present) and oral argument schedule.
  
  
• Federal Judiciary Homepage [http://www.uscourts.gov/]
  The official Web site of the federal judiciary. It provides information on many aspects of the judiciary - judges and judgeships, judiciary budget, judicial compensation, caseload statistics, proceedings of the Judicial Conference of the United States, federal rulemaking, etc. It also provides access to the Web sites of various federal courts.
  
  
• Administrative Office of the United States Courts [http://www.uscourts.gov/adminoff.html]
  It provides a wide range of administrative, legal, financial, management, program, and information technology services to the federal courts.  The AO provides support and staff counsel to the Judicial Conference of the United States and its committees, and implements and executes Judicial Conference policies, as well as applicable federal statutes and regulations. The AO also facilitates communications within the Judiciary and with Congress, the executive branch, and the public on behalf of the Judiciary.
  
  
• Judicial Conference of the United States [http://www.uscourts.gov/judconf.html]
  Created by Congress in 1922, the fundamental purpose of the Judicial Conference is to make policy with regard to the administration of the United States courts. The Web site provides general information about the Conference - its membership, committees, as well as the proceedings of its meeting (1997-present).
  
  
• Federal Judicial Center [http://www.fjc.gov/]
  Established by Congress in 1987 (26 U.S.C. §§ 620-629) on the recommendation of the Judicial Conference of the United States, the Federal Judicial Center is the research and education agency of the federal judicial system. Some of its duties: conduct and promote orientation and continuing education and training for federal judges, court employees, and others; develop recommendations about the operation and study of the federal courts; conduct and promote research on federal judicial procedures, court operations, and history.  The Chief Justice of the United States chairs the Center’s Board, which also includes the director of the Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts and seven judges elected by the Judicial Conference.  The site contains the results of Center research on federal court operations and procedures and court history, as well as selected educational materials produced for judges and court employees."
  
  
• The Supreme Court Historical Society [http://www.supremecourthistory.org/]
  Founded by Chief Justice Warren E. Burger, the Society, a private non-profit organization, is dedicated to the collection and preservation of the history of the Supreme Court of the United States. The Web site provides various information informing the reader of the history of the Court - its justices, its building. The Web site also lists the most significant oral arguments heard by the Supreme Court from 1955 until 1993. The Web site provides the text of 411 selected decisions. It also includes a detailed research guide, "Researching the Supreme Court of the United States."
  
  
• Supreme Court Collection (Cornell Law School, LII /Legal Information Institute) [http://supct.law.cornell.edu/supct/index.html]
  It provides access to decisions by topic, by author, by party (1990-present); Supreme Court rules; glossary; briefs; oral argument recordings and transcripts.
  
  
• OYEZ: U.S. Supreme Court Multimedia Database (Northwestern University)[ http://www.oyez.org/]
  The OYEZ Project provides access to more than 2000 hours of Supreme Court audio. All audio in the Court recorded since 1995 is included in the project. Before 1995, the audio collection is selective. Podcast of oral arguments is also available (2004-present).
  
  

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ORGANIZATIONS WITH A FOCUS ON THE SUPREME COURT/CONSTITUTIONAL LAW

Academic or Research Institutes

• Supreme Court Institute (Georgetown University Law Center) http://www.law.georgetown.edu/sci/]
  It "seeks to promote understanding in law students, faculty, the legal profession, and the nation of the history, significance, and dynamics of Supreme Court decision-making." The Moot Court Program arranges practice sessions that allow attorneys to prepare for oral arguments before the Court. Approximately 2/3 of all cases heard by the Court are mooted at Georgetown before a panel of "Justices" that includes law faculty and experienced Supreme Court advocates. The Web site provides access to articles and presentations (real audio / transcripts) sponsored by the Institute.
  
  
• Cato’s Center for Constitutional Studies [http://www.cato.org/ccs/index.html]
  The Center and its scholars "take their inspiration from the struggle of America's founding generation to secure liberty through limited government and the rule of law. The Center's scholars address a wide range of constitutional and legal issues and encourage the judiciary to neither make nor ignore the law but interpret and apply it through the natural rights tradition inherited from the founding generation." The Web site provides access to its publications.
  
  
• The Constitutional Law Center at the University of Akron School of Law [http://www.uakron.edu/law/cclaw.php]
  One of only four constitutional law program established by the U.S. Congress in 1987 to commemorate the Bicentennial of the U.S. Constitution. (The other two were at Howard University Law School and University of South Carolina School of Law.) "The primary purpose of the Center is to promote scholarship concerning the United States Constitution, including its Amendments, to commemorate the creation of that document and help illuminate its application to modern times."
  
  
• Drake Constitutional Law Center [http://www.law.drake.edu/centers/conLaw/]
  One of only four constitutional law programs established by the U.S. Congress and funded by the federal government. (The other two were at Howard University Law School and University of South Carolina School of Law.) "The Center's mission is to foster study of the U.S. Constitution, its roots, its formation, its principles and development."
  
  

Advocacy Groups

• American Center for Law and Justice (ACLJ) [http://www.aclj.org/]
  Specializing in constitutional law and based in Washington, D.C., ACLJ is "dedicated to protecting your religious and constitutional freedoms."
  
  
• American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) - Supreme Court [http://www.aclu.org/scotus/index.html]
  A nonprofit and nonpartisan group, "the ACLU has maintained the position that civil liberties must be respected, even in times of national emergency." The Supreme Court page provides access to legal documents related to Supreme Court cases and essays discussing the cases (1994 term - present).
  
  
• American Constitution Society [http://www.acslaw.org/]
  "[O]ne of the nation's leading progressive legal organizations. Founded in 2001, ACS is comprised of law students, lawyers, scholars, judges, policymakers, activists and other concerned individuals who are working to ensure that the fundamental principles of human dignity, individual rights and liberties, genuine equality, and access to justice are in their rightful, central place in American law."
  
  
• American Enterprise Institute [http://www.aei.org/default.asp?filter=all]
  " AEI's purposes are to defend the principles and improve the institutions of American freedom and democratic capitalism--limited government, private enterprise, individual liberty and responsibility, vigilant and effective defense and foreign policies, political accountability, and open debate." AEI sponsors a wealth of research that examines the legal and constitutional aspects of current policy controversies. Its "Legal and Constitutional Studies" page, under "Research Areas", links to the full text of its many short publications on constitutional issues; provides information on books published by its researchers and its events.

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