Researching the U.S. Supreme Court on the Internet: Finding Opinions

Although judicial decisions for the many state and federal courts are more readily available online now than they ever were in the past, no court has as much information available as the Supreme Court of the United States (often referred to as SCOTUS). This is true not only of the Supreme Court's cases, but also of other types of information, such as merit briefs, transcripts of oral arguments, commentary, and historical information.

This piece provides instruction about how to locate Supreme Court decisions. Although lawyers and law students could find some of this information helpful, it is mostly intended for general researchers who may not have any formal legal research training.

When the Supreme Court Issues an Opinion

The Supreme Court is primarily an appellate body, and the opinions it issues resolve appeals that have been brought before the Court from parties who first argued their cases at lower federal courts and from the highest state courts. Though many parties ask the Court to hear their appeals (through the filing of a petition for writ of certiorari), the Court denies most of these requests. When the Supreme Court denies a petition, it usually does not provide a reason for the denial. The media sometimes reports these denials, indicating that the Court allowed a case to stand (or something similar). However, the denials usually are not accompanied with a statement or opinion, and the real meaning of the denial is simply that the Court did not want to hear the case. A recent example occurred when the Court refused to hear an appeal from a New Jersey man in a case disputing Barack Obama's citizenship.

When the Supreme Court agrees to hear a case (grants the petition for writ of certiorari), the Court's clerk soon places the case on the Court's calendar. Parties to the case, along with other parties (amicus curiae, or friends of the Court), file briefs in support of the one of the arguments. The parties then appear before the Court to argue the case. This oral argument is recorded and transcribed and later made available to the public.

Individual justices on the Court make their own judgments regarding the outcomes of the cases, and then individual justices are designed to write legal opinions that provide the legal reasoning in support of those judgments. The focus of research in Supreme Court case law is on these opinions.

For more information about the Supreme Court's procedures and basic practices, read the short pamphlets available at About the Supreme Court.

Identifying a Case

Those who are accustomed to conducting legal research are used to seeing a citation to an opinion. A citation to a case may appear as follows:

New York Times Co. v. Sullivan, 376 U.S. 254 (1964).

What this citation means is that the case featuring the parties New York Times Co. and L.B. Sullivan appears in volume 376 of United States Reports at page 254, and that the decision was rendered in 1964. Citations to case law throughout the United States are similar in their components. One problem for those who are not accustomed to legal research is that these citations can cause confusion. On the other hand, once a researcher reads a case or two, the citation form should be less problematic.

Another problem that arises is that general researchers often find references to cases in newspaper articles and other media sources, but these sources provide no means of locating the actual text of the case. The latter situation can actually be a bigger problem because the media account may not give a clear indication of the parties in the case. For example, the New York Times coverage of the 2008 case addressing the District of Columbia gun control law does not mention the case name until the 23rd paragraph of the story. Thus, someone reading the article could have a tough time finding the actual opinion.

As a general matter, it is easier on the Internet to find Supreme Court opinions if a researcher has the citation to the case, meaning the reference to United States Reports. One source that is helpful in finding this citation is Wikipedia. Although researchers should hesitate to use Wikipedia as a principal source by itself, the website includes summaries of most Supreme Court cases, along with citations that appear in the right-hand column of the page. Wikipedia's entry for District of Columbia v. Heller, for instances, includes a number of links that are helpful for finding the opinion as well as the oral arguments and briefs.

In addition to newspaper and traditional media accounts, there are a number of websites the provide good commentary about recent and pending Supreme Court decisions. Two of these are sister sites: SCOTUS Blog and ScotusWiki. Both of these sites, which are sponsored by the law firm of Akin, Gump, Strauss, Hauer, and Feld, include articles about the cases as well as links to relevant documents.

United States Reports

Supreme Court decisions are published officially in the United States Reports, which is released by the U.S. Government Printing Office. Supreme Court decisions are also available in several unofficial publications, including Supreme Court Reporter and United States Supreme Court Reports, Laywer's Edition. These publications are available in law libraries and through subscription databases. The opinions available for free online are usually referred to by the citations to United States Reports.

Finding Supreme Court Cases Online

There are several databases and subscription-based websites that provide access to Supreme Court decisions. The Supreme Court itself issues a pamphlet summarizing the location of these opinions. The sites below are each free, easy to use, and comprehensive.

1. Supreme Court's Website

The Supreme Court's website contains opinions dating back to 1991. This site is an especially great resource for recent cases. Opinions are often available in PDF form from the Supreme Court's site within minutes of the Court announcing a decision.

2. Justia

Justia is a private portal page (similar to Yahoo) that provides the full text of all opinions dating back to the very first volume of United States Reports.

3. Findlaw

Findlaw contains opinions starting with volume 150 of United States Reports (with cases beginning in 1893). Findlaw requires users to register (for free) before accessing the cases.

4. Legal Information Institute

The Legal Information Institute at Cornell provides access to full opinions dating back to 1990.

5. GPO Access

The Government Printing Office provides access to opinions from 1937 through 1975, as well as 1992 through 2000.