Supreme Court & Other Federal Courts

Cases: Reporters, Digest, & Citators

U.S. Supreme Court

Supreme Court Decisions

• Online version (1754-2004) (Library of Congress courtesy of William S. Hein & Co.)
• Online version (1754+)
• Online version (1937-1975)

Supreme Court Nominations

• Supreme Court Nominations, 1968+ (Law Library of Congress)
• Supreme Court Nominations Research Guide (Georgetown Law Library)

The Supreme Court Database provides data about decisions from 1946 to the present

1. identification variables (e.g., citations and docket numbers);
2. background variables (e.g., how the Court took jurisdiction, origin and source of the case, the reason the Court agreed to decide it);
3. chronological variables (e.g., the date of decision, term of Court, natural court);
4. substantive variables (e.g., legal provisions, issues, direction of decision);
5. outcome variables (e.g., disposition of the case, winning party, formal alteration of precedent, declaration of unconstitutionality); and
6. voting and opinion variables (e.g., how the individual justices voted, their opinions and interagreements).