Quick Links
Use Google Scholar to find full-text legal opinions from the U.S. federal and state district, appellate and supreme courts. For more information, see Finding the laws that govern us (Google blog).
- U.S. Courts' Court Locator Includes hyperlinked color Circuit Map. May also search by type of court, zip code, city & state, circuit, or area code.
- U.S. Courts (by Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts) The purpose of this site is to function as a clearinghouse for information from and about the Judicial Branch of the U.S. Government. Access federal court statistics, publications and reports, and forms under the "Library" tab.
- Federal Judicial Center The FJC is the education and research agency for the federal courts. This site contains the results of the Center's research on federal court operations, procedures, and court history.
- PACER Use PACER for electronic access to U.S. District, Bankruptcy, and Appellate court records. Must register. Charge is $.08 per page.
- Justia's Federal District Court Filings May search by party name, by jurisdiction, lawsuit type, and limit by date case was filed. Also browsable by state, nature of suit and case name.
- The Robing Room
This site's mission is to provide a forum for evaluating federal district court judges and magistrate judges. It is owned by North Law Publishers, Inc., a New York Corp., whose principal shareholders are attorneys. - Chart: The U.S. Court System
Links to related guides
Federal Case Materials Checklist
How to Find a Case by Name or Topic Using Print Sources
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Understanding the Federal Courts
This 54-page publication (in PDF) provides an introduction to the federal judicial system, its organization and administration, and its relationship to the legislative and executive branches of the government. Published by the Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts in 2003.
U.S. Supreme Court
Supreme Court of the United States
This is the Court's official Web site. The docket page provides information regarding the status of cases for both the current term and the prior term. Users can search by using a Supreme Court docket number, a lower court docket number, or a case name.
There are also links to court rules, opinions, and orders. The opinions are posted on this site within hours after the bench opinions are issued and remain posted until the opinions are published in a bound volume of the U.S. Reports.
HeinOnline's U.S. Supreme Court Library (UCLA)
Includes the Constitution, Rules of the Supreme Court of the United States and the U.S. Reports (1754-2005). Also available are several books (publication dates between 1804 and 1939) on the Court and two periodicals (Supreme Court Economic Review and Supreme Court Review).
Powered by FastCase. Free account registration required. U.S. Supreme Court cases from 1754 to present. May search by case name or citation (no fields provided, just enter the citation/case name into the search box). Limit by date.
Access U.S. Supreme Court cases from 1781 to present. LexisNexis headnotes are not included. May search by keywords, by citation. Limit by date, parties, judges, and counsel.
FindLaw's U.S. Supreme Court Opinions
A searchable database of Supreme Court opinions since 1893. Browsable by year and U.S. Reports volume number and searchable by citation, case name and full text.
Supreme Court Collection (Cornell's LII)
Contains current U.S. Supreme Court decisions since 1990 and a selection of over 600 historic decisions of the U.S. Supreme Court. Finding aids include case name lists, topical lists, and authorship lists.
Cases from 1792 to present. Oyez provides a summary of the facts of the case, question(s) presented, and the Court's conclusion. Links to the full text opinion provided by Justia. In addition, the Oyez Project is a multimedia archive devoted to the Supreme Court of the United States. It aims to be a complete and authoritative source for all audio recorded in the Court since the installation of a recording system in October 1955. The site also reports voting details in every case back to 1953. Users may sort the votes by seniority or by ideology.
On the Docket, part of the Oyez Project, is an online clearinghouse for news about decisions handed down by the U.S. Supreme Court and those cases that the justices accept for review. View summaries of upcoming cases and recently decided cases. There is also a Term Calendar and Timeline (which you can move forward or backward to see more content).
ABA's Preview of the United States Supreme Court Cases
Provides links to the briefs filed for current cases (both scheduled and unscheduled). Also links to the Supreme Court's Argument Transcript.
The Supreme Court of the United States blog is published by the law firm Akin Gump. Read news, commentary and analysis as well as keep up to date on new filings, orders and opinions. There is also page on the Court's schedule for the current week.
History & Statistics
U.S. Supreme Court Records and Briefs, 1832-1978 (UCLA)
This is a fully searchable database of approximately 11 million pages and more than 350,000 separate documents. Approximately 150,000 Supreme Court cases are featured. May search full-text, by case name, court term year and document filing date, U.S. Reports citation. Also may browse authors and cases.
Federal Judicial Center's History of the Federal Judiciary
Most notable on this page is the link to "Judges of the United States Courts," which takes you to the "Biographical Directory of Federal Judges" and the "Federal Judges Biographical Database." The Biographical Directory of Federal Judges provides information about all judges who have served since 1789 on the U.S. District Courts, the U.S. Court of Appeals, the Supreme Court, and the former U.S. Circuit Courts. The Federal Judges Biographical Databases allows users to create customized lists of judges based on multiple categories, including nominating president, type of court, dates of service, and demographic groups (i.e. race or ethnicity and gender).
U.S. Courts' Statistical Reports
Reports include the Annual Report of the Director: Judicial Business of the United States, Bankruptcy Abuse Prevention and Consumer Protection Act Statistics, Bankruptcy Statistics, PACER Bankruptcy Statistics, Federal Court Management Statistics, Federal Judicial Caseload Statistics, Judicial Facts and Figures, Statistical Tables for the Federal Judiciary, and Wiretap Reports.
U.S. Courts' History of Federal Judgeships
Includes historical information on authorized judgeships for all courts and judgeship appointments by presidents since 1933.
Creating the Federal Judicial System, 2nd ed. Russell R. Wheeler and Cynthia Harrison. (Washington, DC: Federal Judicial Center, 1994). 34-page PDF.
The Supreme Court Historical Society
The Supreme Court Historical Society, a private non-profit organization, is dedicated to the collection and preservation of the history of the U.S. Supreme Court. On this site, one will find links to the history of the Court, how the Court works, some digitzied Society publications, and link to a 40-page PDF document called "Researching the Supreme Court of the United States: Available resources for commonly-asked questions resources" (under How the Court Works).
Other Federal Court Opinions
Please note that U.S. District Court cases are not as readily available for free on the Internet (except for those opinions posted on the courts' official Web sites, which are typically only the most recent decisions, and through Justia). Options include the low-cost subscription service Loislaw and the UCLA subscription database LexisNexis Academic Universe (see descriptions below).
Also consider calling your local college campus or public law library, which may have subscriptions to Academic Universe or public-access Westlaw, respectivley.
UCLAW students are eligible for free Loislaw accounts, which remain active throughout the summers and 6 months after graduation. Please see the instructions, which are posted on the Intranet, by clicking here.
- Public Library of Law Includes cases from the Federal Courts of Appeals from 1950 to present (except for the 11th Circuit (from 1981) and the Federal Circuit (from 1982). In advanced search, may search only one jurisdiction at a time.
- LexisONE's Free Case Law May access federal court of appeal cases decided within the last 10 years. Searchable by keywords or by citation. Limit by date, parties, judges, or counsel. Must create an account to view cases.
- FindLaw's Cases Scroll down the page to access links to U.S. Courts of Appeals, Opinions & Resources. Coverage varies by jurisdiction but earliest opinions are dated between 1994 and 1997. Page for District Court opinions links to the official court Web sites.
- Justia Federal District Court Opinions & Orders From 2004 to current. May search full-text or limit by jurisdiction, type of lawsuit, and party name.
- Loislaw This is a lower-cost alternative to Westlaw and Lexis. There are "flexible subscription plans for individual users." For example, one-day access to "Primary Law -- California" costs $39.99. Under Academic Plan, access to District Court opinions from 1921.
- LexisNexis Academic Universe (UCLA) This is a UCLA subscription database. The default page is the General Search. Please click on the "Legal" button at the top left-hand corner. The combined U.S. District court case law file contains all case law from 1789 to current.
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