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Federal Case Law

This guide is intended to familiarize the user with the U.S. court structure, the authoritativenss and publication of federal court opinions, and the various reporters/publications containing the text of these opinions.
URL: https://libguides.law.ucla.edu/federalcasechecklist

United States Supreme Court Sources

  1. Slip Opinions

    Text of United States Supreme Court decisions in individual pamphlet form.  The Law Library no longer receives these in print (the last slip opinion received in print was dated April 19, 2005).
     
    Online:   

    Supreme Court of the United States:  Opinions of the Court 
    Lag time: Available the same day the decision is rendered.  Slip opinions remain posted here until they are published in a bound volume of the U.S. Reports.

    HeinOnline Supreme Court Library (2002-date) (UCLA only**)

          
  2. Supreme Court Reporter - Official
     
    • United States Reports (U.S.):

      Text of all U.S. Supreme Court cases.  Each volume includes Table of Cases Reported and subject index for that volume.
       
      Library: KF 101 A32 (East Reading Room)
      Lag time: Approximately 2 years for the official print version; Print subscription discontinued
      Online:

      Supreme Court of the United States: Bound Volumes: (PDFs of bound volumes from 1991 (v. 502) to most recent available in print)

      HeinOnline Supreme Court Library (Vols. 1 - 577, 1754-2016) (UCLA only**)

          
  3. Supreme Court Reporters - Unofficial
     
    • Supreme Court Reporter, West Publishing Co. (S.Ct.)

      Begins with cases from Volume 106 (1882) of the official set (U.S. Reports).  Bound volumes include Table of Cases Reported, Words & Phrases, Statutes & Rule Tables, Table of Dispositions, and Key Number DigestAdvance Sheets include all of these, plus Cumulative Key Number Digest and Cumulative Table of Dispositions. Advance Sheets may include text of new court rules.
       
      Library:

      KF 101 A322 (East Reading Room)
      Lag time:         4 - 6 weeks

      Online:

      Westlaw:  Cases > U.S. Supreme Court (1790 - ) (UCLA Law only*)

      Westlaw includes both text and PDF versions of the cases contained in this reporter. 

            
    • United States Supreme Court Reports, Lawyers’ Edition, LexisNexis (L.Ed. (1 U.S. – 349 U.S.); L.Ed. 2d (350 U.S. to present))

      Appendix includes summaries of attorneys’ briefs submitted to the Court and annotations written by publishers’ editorial staff for selected important cases. Bound volumes also include Table of Cases, Table of Parallel References, Table of Statutes, Rules and Regulations Construed, annotations and index. Advance Sheets do not contain annotations.
       
      Library: KF 101 A323 (East Reading Room)
      Lag time:         6 - 8 weeks
      Online:

      Lexis:  Cases > U.S. Supreme Court Cases (1790 - ) (UCLA Law only*)

      For most Supreme Court cases, Lexis only includes the text version of the cases from this reporter (including the Lawyers' Edition summaries and headnotes). PDF versions are only provided for a limited number of years. For older cases, Lexis includes PDF versions from the official Supreme Court reporter (U.S. Reports), though the summaries and headnotes are redacted.

            
          
  4. United States Law Week, Bureau of National Affairs (U.S.L.W.)

    The “Supreme Court Sections” contains full-text Supreme Court opinions in loose-leaf format.  Also includes Cases Docketed, Summary of Cases Recently Filed, summaries of arguments before the Court, Table of Cases and Case Status Report, and Topical Index.
     
    Library: KF 175 U55 (1976-2018 on Level M; older years at SRLF)
    Lag time:         3 - 4 weeks
          
  5. Los Angeles Daily Journal Daily Appellate Report, L.A. Daily Journal (D.A.R.)

    Includes the full opinions of the U.S. Supreme Court cases (along with opinions from state and federal courts in California). Good source for very recent cases. Check daily issues for cases decided in the past week, as indexing is fairly slow.
     
    Library: Current 6 months, request at Circulation Desk;
    Older editions in the Los Angeles Daily Journal microfilm set
    K 12 O82  (Microform Room – Level 1)
    Lag time:         1 - 4 days

*NOTE: UCLA School of Law provides Bloomberg Law, LexisNexis and Westlaw accounts to UCLA Law School students, faculty, and staff only.

**NOTE:  HeinOnline is only available on the UCLA campus or via the UCLA VPN.