Home: PS 308

U.S. Supreme Court Resources

Legal & Political Science Journal Indexes

Finding Books (and Journal Titles) Using the Online Catalog

Reference Titles

Internet Resources

PS 308: Supreme Court and Public Policy

Course Instructor: Walter Lackey
Librarian: Matt Sumner

U.S. Supreme Court Resources

The Supreme Court stands at the apex of the United States Court system which contains three levels. The Federal courts below the Supreme Court are the entry level District Courts, and the U.S. Court of Appeals.

Decisions made by the Supreme Court - the opinions the justices render - establish precedence for the entire country. Supreme Court opinions are available in print and electronic form.

United States Reports, v. 284- 1931 to date

D. H. Hill Ref. Ju6.8: (U.S. Documents Reference, 2d floor, north tower)

Supreme Court Decisions, 1937 - 1975

Supreme Court Decisions, 1992 - 2000

Supreme Court Decisions, 1991 - 2003 (Click on "Bound volumes")

Decisions appear chronologically as individual opinions (called slip opinions), and as a pamphlet compilation (advance sheet) prior to publication in a hard cover volume. Publication is slow with a one year delay before publication of advance sheets and two year delay before the hard cover volume is published.
Cite as: 451 U.S. 184 (1986)

United States Supreme Court Reports, Lawyers' Edition, v. 1-100, 1790-1955
United States Supreme Court Reports, Lawyers' Edition 2d, v. 1-61, 1956-1979

D. H. Hill Ref. Ju6.8:L (U.S. Documents Reference, 2d floor, north tower)
This is a commercial edition of the U.S. Reports that provides coverage of Supreme Court case decisions for dates prior to the 1930s.
Cite as: 61 L Ed 2d 101 (1979)

Electronic Access via LexisNexis Academic

Here are four links into LexisNexis Academic that open search screens for different U.S. Supreme Court resources:

Decisions

Federal & State Cases, Combined

NCSU's Information System; restricted use via remote access.

Use this link to search for the decisions of individual cases.

Change the "Select Sources" dropdown choice to "U.S. Supreme Court Cases, Lawyers' Edition."

Enter either the names of the litigants, or the case's citation in the form volume, source abbreviation, page.

Briefs

Federal & State Cases, Combined

NCSU's Information System; restricted use via remote access.

Briefs are the legal documents that lawyers, and other interested parties, file with the Supreme Court justices as background material before they argue their case.

The same LexisNexis Academic search page lets you search for Briefs.

Change the "Select Sources" dropdown choice to "U.S. Supreme Court Briefs."

Previews

Federal & State Cases, Combined

NCSU's Information System; restricted use via remote access.

A third option within the "Select Sources" drop-down box on this same page links you to a secondary resource, "Preview of United States Supreme Court Cases."

This lets you search the contents of a monthly journal published by the American Bar Association.

Here you'll find articles "by legal experts of the issues, facts and significance of each case being argued before the U.S. Supreme Court."

Citator

Shepard's Citations

NCSU's Information System; restricted use via remote access.

Use Shepard's to insure that the case you're researching is still current. Later court decisions may alter or overturn the precedent set by an earlier case.

If you've found a case that supports a litigant's position, you need to know whether the law established by that decision remains in effect.

Shepard's does this by giving you a list of all the cases that have cited the case you're starting with. It provides a bibliography of cases that deal with similar issues.

You can only search in Shepard's using the case's citation.

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