SUBJECT GUIDES: Finding Court Cases

Court Cases: How to Find a Specific Case BOOK SOURCES: There are "official" and "unofficial" versions of court cases and laws. The distinction is made based on what agency publishes the case or law. The "official" versions are those published by the U.S. government Printing Office in Washington, D.C. The "unofficial" versions are those published by private publishing companies such as the West Publishing Company. These contain the exact text and are just as authoritative as the official versions. They also have two major advantages. First, they are annotated with additional information. Second, they are published a lot faster than the official versions. Please note that not all court decisions are published. Those that are published are discussed below. There are also two distinct court systems in the United States: the federal courts and the state courts. Although method of locating federal or state cases does not vary drastically, it is a factor in deciding the law reference books that you will need to consult. The federal level: All Supreme Court Opinions; Selected Decisions of the U.S. Court of Appeals; and Selected Decisions of the U.S. District Courts. United States Reports (Not owned by the LBCC libraries) - [Cited as U.S.] This is the official publication containing all opinions or decisions from the U.S. Supreme Court. The citation follows this order: 1. Title of the case, with the name of the party bringing the action first (the plaintiff), followed by the name of the party against whom the action is taken (the defendant); 2. Volume number; 3. Source: U.S. 4. Page number on which the decision begins; and, 5. Year of the decision (in parenthesis). Example: Red Lion Broadcasting Co. v. U.S., 395 U.S. 367 (1969) Supreme Court Reporter (Ref KF 101 S82) - [Cited as S. Ct. or as SC in Shepard's] - These are similar to the U.S. Reports but are published by the West Publishing Company. Supreme Court Reporter is an unofficial version of Supreme Court opinions or decisions. It publishes the Court's decisions with page references to the official United States Reports, as well as other editorial enhancements, including headnotes. Corresponding U.S. Reports volume and page numbers are printed on the spine of the Supreme Court Reporter. The citation, S.Ct. is substituted for U.S. in above example. The citation for the Rosenberg case is 73 S.Ct. 1152, which means volume 73 of the Supreme Court Reporter, page 1152. Note: Although LBCC does not own the U.S. Reports, it is included in this handout to illustrate how a statutory or case law is cross-referenced in legal publications (also called parallel citations). For example, the case, Employee Drug Testing Case is cited in Shepard's Acts and Cases by Popular Names as being available in three sources: 489 U.S. 656 (i.e. volume 489 of the United States Reports, page 656) 103 L.Ed2d 685 (volume 103 of the Lawyers Edition, 2d, page 685) 109 SC 1384 (volume 109 of the Supreme Court Reporter, page 1384) This means that you will find the exact same case in either of these three volumes. The "unofficial" versions will also include annotations. The state level: There are reporters for each segment of the U.S. that contain cases from each state's highest court and Court of Appeals. These are published by the West Publishing Co., and are all "unofficial" versions. The Pacific Reporter, cited as P. And P2d. Includes Alaska, Arizona, California, Colorado, Hawaii, Idaho, etc. Each state also has its own series, which reports cases only for that state. In California, the set is called the West's California Reporter (Ref KF 47 .W4) [Cited as Cal. App. or Cal. Rptr.] ONLINE SOURCES: Also, there are various online sources that are searchable by keyword or case number to assist with finding court cases. Examples include 1). Findlaw - http://www.findlaw.com/casecode/supreme.html - a searchable database of the U.S. Supreme Court decisions; browsable by year and U.S. Reports volume number; searchable by citation, case title and full text. Also provides access to individual state legal resources. 2). Federal Legal Information Through Electronics database (FLITE) - http://www.fedworld.gov/supcourt/index.htm provides access to thousands of U.S. Supreme Court decisions/opinions from 1937-1975, from volume 300 to 422 of U.S. Reports. It also provides a link to 300 historical cases and the current decisions (May 1990-Present) on the Legal Information Institute http://supct.law.cornell.edu/supct/cases/name.html web site. 3). U.S. Supreme Court Database (USSC+) - http://www.usscplus.com/free.htm - free services include the current term's decisions and the top 1000 cases which are most cited by the Supreme Court itself. 4). Annotations of Cases Decided by the Supreme Court of the U.S. - http://www.access.gpo.gov/congress/senate/constitution/ - analysis and interpretation of selected cases decided by the U.S. Supreme Court. 5). U.S. Federal Courts Finder - http://www.law.emory.edu - circuit court decisions and information can be found on this site. Please see the Librarian for further assistance 1998, upd. 2001

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