Supreme Court of the United States
cases and materials

Francis Norton, Reference Librarian and Associate Professor
Law Library, Loyola University New Orleans School of Law
updated September 7, 2007

Cases

Official reports of the Supreme Court. Washington, for sale by the Supt. of Docs., U.S. Govt. Print. Off.
Also called United States Reports. (Second Floor)

The United States law week.  Washington, Bureau of National Affairs, 1933-.
Weekly updates from BNA. (Reserve & Second Floor)

United States Supreme Court Reports, Lawyer's Edition. Rochester, N.Y. : Lawyers Co-operative Pub. Co., 1957-
This is the Lexis version. (Second Floor)

West's Supreme Court reporter. St. Paul : West Pub. Co., 1988-.
Published by West, continues Supreme Court reporter. (Second Floor)

FindLaw. Opinions from 1893 on.

Lexis-Nexis. Subscription only.

U. S. Supreme Court . Opinions from the October 1991 Term, in pdf only.

Westlaw. Subscription only.

Court Rules

Rules of the Supreme Court of the United States
Link to the Rules, as revised on July 17, 2007, effective October 1, 2007, at the Court's own site, in pdf.

Rules of the Supreme Court of the United States
Link to the Rules, effective May 2, 2005, host by the Legal Information Institute. Each rule is listed and may be viewed in html; pdf is also available.

Briefs

The Supreme Court does not publish briefs at its website. Printed briefs are available at the Supreme Court Clerk's Office and at a few depositories, none of which are in Louisiana.

Landmark briefs and arguments of the Supreme Court of the United States: constitutional law. [Washington] : University Publications of America, c1975-.
KF 4575 .A5 (Second Floor)
This serial is exactly what the title describes.

United States Supreme Court records and briefs. [Philadelphia] : Microform, Inc.
KF 101.9 .U51 (Microform Room)
This serial begins with the 1930 Term.

FindLaw has briefs beginning with the October 1999 Term.

Lexis-Nexis (subscription only) has briefs beginning in January 1979.

Westlaw (subscription only) has selected briefs from 1870.

Oral Arguments

The complete oral arguments of the Supreme Court of the United States . Frederick, MD : University Publications of America, c198-.
KF 101.9 .U52 (Microform Room)
Coverage begins in the 1952 Term.

Westlaw (subscription only) has official transcripts of oral arguments in cases heard before the U.S. Supreme Court from the 1990-91 Term to the present.

Commentary

What does a case really say? How should it be seen? Most scholars believe that they could have written better opinions than the ones that the Court publishes. To find monographs on cases, trends, and subject areas, please check our catalog at http://lawcat.loyno.edu. Law journal articles may provide more information, and on narrower topics. The library subscribes to a commercial database, Infotrac, which you may search for articles. Most of your search results will be either citations or citations with abstracts. You can then check the library catalog to learn if the library has the desired journal in its collection.

Biographies

The library has a number of biographies of Supreme Court Justices. Although we live by the rule of law, actual people write and shape that law. Lawyers appearing before a judge would do well to study that judge. You may search by the name of an individual Justice, or perform a subject search. Most biographies will be in the KF8700 area. (Second Floor)

Virtual Tour

This virtual tour is from Oyez; it does not work with older Netscape browsers. The Oyez site also contains opinion abstracts grouped by topic, news, and related information concerning the Supreme Court.

Lagniappe

The Supreme Court Historical Society has a wealth of material on its website, including a history of the Court, how it works, and how to research the court. The Society's online store stocks items such as books, ties, and figurines.