Library Guides: U.S. Judicial Branch (Courts): Opinion Databases and Guides

Legal Opinion Databases and Guides

ProQuest Supreme Court Insight This link opens in a new window
Complete collection of full opinions from U.S. Supreme Court argued cases, including decisions, dockets, oral arguments, joint appendices and amicus briefs. Covers 1975-2017 term (database currently being built, so not all dates are covered).
"Complete online collection of full opinions from Supreme Court argued cases, including per decision, dockets, oral arguments, joint appendices and amicus briefs. Content associated with each case is compiled on a dynamic page organized to facilitate understanding of the judicial process, and is also retrievable on a document by document basis. This collection covers 1975-2017 (database currently being built, so not all dates are covered). All content is expected to be added by the end of 2017."
Nexis Uni (formerly LexisNexis Academic) This link opens in a new window
Full-text access to international, national, local newspapers, and wire services, as well as radio and television transcripts. Database also includes business, medical, industry, and legislative magazines, journals, and newsletters. Also includes laws from the U.S., all 50 states, and law reviews. Wide geographic coverage and translations from foreign-language sources, as well as news services like the Associated Press, Agence France Press, El Pai.
Nexis Uni allows users to set up personal accounts to personalize your research experience. Nexis Uni has replaced LexiNexis Academic. [dates vary]
Hein Online This link opens in a new window
Comprehensive legal research tool including access to the pdf full-text of complete runs of many legal journals, US statutes, codes, and congressional and executive documents, Supreme Court Library, state session laws and state statutes, the Index to Foreign Legal Periodicals, and many historical and international legal resources. The database is continually adding resources and expanding existing resources. Courtesy of Berkeley Law Library.
Provides full text to the early issues of many legal journals and law reviews, the Federal Register (1936-six months ago), US Supreme Court Library (1754-present) and treaties and agreements.
LegalTrac This link opens in a new window
Indexes major law reviews, legal newspapers, bar association journals, international legal journals. (Legal Trac) [1980 - present]
Also indexes law-related articles from hundreds of business and general interest titles.
Oyez Project This link opens in a new window
A searchable archive of all public sessions recorded in the Supreme Court or the United States.
A multimedia archive devoted to the Supreme Court of the United States and its work. Contains all audio recorded in the Court since the installation of a recording system in October 1955, and summaries of major cases going back to the courts founding. The Project also provides biographical information on all justices and offers a virtual reality 'tour' of portions of the Supreme Court building, including the chambers of some of the justices.

Law Reviews--Your Key to Finding Court Cases

One of the best strategies for finding court opinions on a topic is to search law reviews. Law Reviews are articles written by lawyers, judges, law professors, advanced law students on a legal issue or topic. They can be a great source of background information on a particular legal issue. Since they are academic in nature, law reviews have citations to court opinions, the law, etc, and may cite the specific sentence or paragraph within the court opinion that matches your topic.

Below are some law review databases to explore.

Nexis Uni (formerly LexisNexis Academic) This link opens in a new window
Law reviews, court opinions, the law, etc.
Nexis Uni allows users to set up personal accounts to personalize your research experience. Nexis Uni has replaced LexiNexis Academic. [dates vary]
LegalTrac This link opens in a new window
Indexes major law reviews, legal newspapers, bar association journals, international legal journals. (Legal Trac) [1980 - present]
Also indexes law-related articles from hundreds of business and general interest titles.

Reading a Legal Citation

Have you ever been puzzled by weird looking citations such as:

410 U.S. 113
40 CFR §129.4
65 FR 741
16 USC §4246

No need to worry. These are legal citations and they are quite easy to read once you understand their logic and abbreviations. The abbreviation in the middle tells you the publication you need. The first number is the volume of the publication where the citation (law, regulation, opinon, etc) is published, and the second number is the page number where the citation appears. For instance, 410 U.S. 113 would be read as: "Volume 410 of the United States Reports, page 113." Sometimes the first number refers to a title/part number instead of a volume number and the second number refers to a section number instead of page number. The real tricky part is figuring out the abbreviation for the publication. Below are some of the more common abbreviations you may run into doing research. As you become more familiar with legal research, you will recognize the more common abbreviations. A list of the more common U.S. abbreviations can be found in this pdf file. For other legal citations (state, local and international), see Bieber's Dictionary of Legal Abbreviations in the Doe Reference Collection.

U.S.-- United States Reports (Supreme Court opinions)
CFR -- Code of Federal Regulations (In this case, its [Title Number] CFR [Part/Section Number])
FR -- Federal Register
F -- Federal Reporter
F2d -- Federal Reporter, Second Series
USC -- U.S. Code (In this case, its [Title Number] USC [Section Number])
Stat -- U.S. Statutes at Large
Cal -- California Reporter

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U.S. Judicial Branch (Courts): Opinion Databases and Guides

Legal Opinion Databases and Guides

Law Reviews--Your Key to Finding Court Cases

Reading a Legal Citation