Oxford LibGuides: United States: legal resources: Cases

Case law of the United States of America

Vocabulary Alert:
In the US legal environment "opinion" is often used in place of "written judgment", or court decision.
A “Slip” opinion is the first, unedited version. The court's official website may post these online within minutes of being issued.

At least in the case of the US Supreme Court, the slip opinion is next replaced by a fully edited and paginated transcript.

Holders of an Oxford SSO have access to US federal and state case law via the following databases:

Westlaw US
Westlaw US is a large legal database with both primary and secondary sources. Legal research tools include the KeyCite citator, and West Key number system for case law.
Coverage:
US federal and state legislation
US federal and state law reports
US law reviews and journals
US federal and state legal encyclopedias and dictionaries
US legal texts and treatises
US Restatements & Principles of the Law
Because of licencing restrictions this database is not available to "Walk-in" users of the library.
Lexis+ UK
For online access from a device outside the University network or via eduroam, please follow https://plus.lexis.com/uk/xhome?federationidp=RXVSX459307 Click on the International link on home page to find USA collection
Alternative names:Lexis ; LexisLibrary ; Lexis Library ; Lexis International

Lexis+ includes extensive primary and secondary legal materials from the UK, EU, USA and many other jurisdictions. It is the only online source for the full text of the All England Law Reports and Halsbury’s Laws. International content can be accessed by following the “International” link on the home page. UK legal news and newspapers are also included.
LLMC-digital
Of particular use if you are looking for historic, nominate reporters
Alternative names: LLMC ; Law Library Microfilm Consortium’s Online Service ; LLMC Digital

LLMC-digital is a collection of English language legal titles and government documents divided into ten major jurisdictional or subject areas:
US Federal Government; US States and Territories; Canada; United Kingdom; Germany federal; Germany state, kingdoms and free cities; Other Countries (Afghanistan to Zimbabwe); International Law and Organizations; Indigenous Law covering materials from various regions of the United States, Canada and Indonesia; and Special Focus Collections which includes British Empire Studies, Canon Law, Islamic Law, Military Law, Native American Collection, Roman law, etc.

The American Judicial System: a Very Short Introduction by Charles L. Zelden
Call Number: Holders of an Oxford SSO can read this book online via title link
ISBN: 9780190644918
Publication Date: 2021
"This book provides a very short, but complete introduction to the institutions and people, the rules and processes, which makeup the American judicial system. Jargon free and aimed at a general reader, ... It is, in a word, a starting place to understanding the third branch of American government at both the state and federal levels ... "

Federal Court System in the United States
Open access publication on official US courts website "introduces judges and judicial administrators who are from other countries to the U.S. federal judicial system, and its relationship to the legislative and executive branches of the U.S. government. .... find information on:
The United States Constitution and the Federal Government
The Role of the Federal Courts in American Government
The Structure of the Federal Courts
The Jurisdiction of the Federal Courts
United States Federal Judges
Distinctive Features of the American Judicial System
The Federal Judicial Process in Brief
Federal Judicial Administration
Accountability

Federal Court System in the United States
Open access publication on official US courts website "introduces judges and judicial administrators who are from other countries to the U.S. federal judicial system, and its relationship to the legislative and executive branches of the U.S. government. .... find information on:
The United States Constitution and the Federal Government
The Role of the Federal Courts in American Government
The Structure of the Federal Courts
The Jurisdiction of the Federal Courts
United States Federal Judges
Distinctive Features of the American Judicial System
The Federal Judicial Process in Brief
Federal Judicial Administration
Accountability
Case.Law Access Project (CAP) 1658 to 2018 (USA)
OA from Harvard University Law Library. "Case metadata, such as the case name, citation, court, date, etc., is freely and openly accessible without limitation. Full case text can be freely viewed or downloaded but you must register for an account to do so, and currently you may view or download no more than 500 cases per day. In addition, research scholars can qualify for bulk data access by agreeing to certain use and redistribution restrictions. You can request a bulk access agreement by creating an account and then visiting your account page."
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"Our goal is to make all published U.S. court decisions freely available to the public online, in a consistent format, digitized from the collection of the Harvard Law School Library."
CourtListener (USA)
CourtListener is a free legal research website containing millions of legal opinions from federal and state courts & is maintained by the Free Law Project. Advanced Oral Argument Search
It is the biggest collection of oral argument audio on the Internet.
Google Scholar (USA case law)
Possibility to set jurisdictional filters before doing US case law search on google scholar
LII (USA) Listing by Jurisdiction
Under each state (when available), you will find links to online sources for the state constitution, statutes, bills, regulations, court websites and court opinions etc.
NCSC State Court Web sites
Free resource. Portal to US State Court websites maintained by National Centre for State Courts. Most of the higher courts (appellate/supreme) will probably make available a collection of "opinions" (in English English decisions/judgments)
Connecticut Reports
Open Access On or after November 20, 2023, and beginning with Volume 320, all volumes of the Connecticut Reports will be compiled electronically rather than in physical form. These electronic volumes will be made available free of charge on the Judicial Branch website as they become available.
Connecticut Appellate Reports
Open Access. On or after November 20, 2023, and beginning with Volume 168, all volumes of the Connecticut Appellate Reports will be compiled electronically rather than in physical form. These electronic volumes will be made available free of charge on the Judicial Branch website as they become available.
US Climate Change Litigation
Free resource. A collaboration of:
The Sabin Center for Climate Change LawArnold & Porter Kaye Scholer LLP
Cases in the U.S. database are organized by type of claim and may be filtered by the principal laws they address, their filing years, and their jurisdictions. The database is also searchable by keyword. In many cases, the database includes links to decisions, complaints, motions, and other administrative and litigation documents.

Finding US law report series in hard copy

The Law Library has a very good historic collection. However, some of the series have been sent off-site to Closed Stacks at the Book Storage Facility (BSF). When this has happened it indicates that Oxford SSO holders can access the volumes online. However, readers are very welcome to order the physical volumes back to the Law Library if they prefer working from the print copies. Readers can order the volumes back to the Law Library via the request from Closed Stack option on SOLO. Please ask at the Law Enquiry Desk if you have questions or problems.

Alternative to SOLO searches

As law report series can be difficult to find using SOLO the Law Library has devised the database below to help. Always feel free to ask a librarian for help if you continue to have problems.

Search our law reports and journals (Law Bod)
Database maintained by the Bodleian Law Library. Put in the title of the law report or law journal which contains the report or article you wish to read, then click search. The results will show which (if any) database will provide full text access and also the shelf mark to the print holdings of the publication in the Bodleian Law Library. Not everything is available online!

"brief
A brief is a written argument submitted to the court. Lawyers often prepare briefs which highlight and clarify certain information or provide legal comparisons in an attempt to persuade the courtroom to rule in favor of that lawyer’s client.

While briefs are primarily prepared by the lawyers working on any given case, high profile supreme court or appellate court cases may inspire third parties to submit amicus briefs . Amicus briefs are briefs prepared by people with strong interests in the outcome of the decision and function similar to trial briefs.

[Last reviewed in June of 2022 by the Wex Definitions Team ]" <https://www.law.cornell.edu/wex/brief> accessed 28 January 2025

Holders of an Oxford SSO should see if the Westlaw US section Trial Court Documents (Motions, Pleadings, Jury Instruction Filings,
Exhibits, Interrogatories) and Dockets has materials relating to the US cases they are interested in. However readers who have had previous experience of a Westlaw US subscription while either at a US university or in a UK law firm may not find the collection as comprehensive as was available in their previous life.

Westlaw US
Westlaw US is a large legal database with both primary and secondary sources. Legal research tools include the KeyCite citator, and West Key number system for case law.
Coverage:
US federal and state legislation
US federal and state law reports
US law reviews and journals
US federal and state legal encyclopedias and dictionaries
US legal texts and treatises
US Restatements & Principles of the Law
Because of licencing restrictions this database is not available to "Walk-in" users of the library.

Public Access to Court Electronic Records (PACER) is an electronic public access service that allows users to obtain case and docket information online from federal appellate, district, and bankruptcy courts, and the PACER Case Locator. PACER is provided by the Federal Judiciary

Please note that the Bodleian Law Library does not have any subscription to this source. Details about the fees for self-registration is available on the website, just follow the links.

Need to understand more about what PACER offers?
Use second link to find free online Training which will show you what type of documents and data you would be able to extract from PACER should you decide to go ahead.

PACER Homepage PACER: Public Access to Court Electronic Records (United States)
The Bodleian/Oxford University does not have a subscription to this site. There is a Fee Exemption Request for Researchers https://pacer.uscourts.gov/my-account-billing/billing/fee-exemption-request-researchers which may be worth trying
United States PACER Training
There is no fee or registration. Simply use the login and password provided on the training site welcome page

Free alternatives to PACER

The alternatives may help in cases from 2004 onwards

US Supreme Court Briefs
Open access. Section of the official website of US Office of the Solicitor General
RECAP Archive
Open access. "The RECAP Archive is a searchable collection of millions of PACER documents and dockets that were gathered using our RECAP Extensions for Firefox and Chrome. The archive also includes every free PACER opinion. This unique archive was created to partially address what we see as the PACER Problem. Using this archive, you can finally search and download millions of PACER documents, including those that were originally scanned PDFs, which we laboriously convert to text. "
Justia dockets and filings (United States)
Open Acces Federal cases, dockets and filings from U.S. District Courts and U.S. Courts of Appeal
CourtListener (USA)
CourtListener is a free legal research website containing millions of legal opinions from federal and state courts & is maintained by the Free Law Project. Advanced Oral Argument Search
It is the biggest collection of oral argument audio on the Internet.

Court Statistics Project (USA)
"The only comparable U.S. state court caseload data sourced directly from state courts using national standards and guidelines." An initiative of the Conference of State Court Administrators and the National Center for State Courts
Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS) United States
Official website open access "The BJS is the primary statistical agency of the Department of Justice. ... The mission of BJS is to collect, analyze, publish, and disseminate information on crime, criminal offenders, victims of crime, and the operation of justice systems at all levels of government. ... "
National Archive of Criminal Justice Data (NACJD) United States
Open access NACJD hosts several large-scale datasets, including the National Crime Victimization Survey (NCVS), the FBI's Uniform Crime Reports (UCR), the FBI's National Incident-Based Reporting System (NIBRS), and the Project on Human Development in Chicago Neighborhoods (PHDCN).
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Located within the Inter-University Consortium for Political and Social Research (ICPSR), a research center of the Institute for Social Research (ISR) at the University of Michigan, NACJD is sponsored by the Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS), the National Institute of Justice (NIJ), and the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP) of the United States Department of Justice

The U. S. Supreme Court: a Very Short Introduction by Linda Greenhouse
Call Number: Holders of an Oxford SSO can read this online via title link
ISBN: 9780197689462
Publication Date: 3rd edn, 2023
Succinct introduction if a new court/jurisdiction for you.

Finding US Supreme Court case law

Westlaw US
Westlaw US is a large legal database with both primary and secondary sources. Legal research tools include the KeyCite citator, and West Key number system for case law.
Coverage:
US federal and state legislation
US federal and state law reports
US law reviews and journals
US federal and state legal encyclopedias and dictionaries
US legal texts and treatises
US Restatements & Principles of the Law
Because of licencing restrictions this database is not available to "Walk-in" users of the library.
HeinOnline
Includes section called US Supreme Court Library which "includes complete coverage of the official U.S. Reports bound volumes, as well as preliminary prints, slip opinions, and books and periodicals related to the U.S. Supreme Court."
Alternative names: Hein Online ; HOL

HeinOnline includes five major collections:
The Law Journal Library includes over 500 U.S., U.K., Australian and International Law Journals. For most journals the date coverage starts very early (in many cases at the first issue). However the most recent editions (within the last calendar year) are sometime unavailable due to licensing restrictions. HeinOnline makes these journals available on a rolling yearly basis.
The Treaties and Agreements Library includes all U.S. treaties and agreements including those in force, expired or yet to be published.
The U.S. Supreme Court Library includes all U.S. Supreme Court opinions as published in the U.S. Reports
The Federal Register 1936-1995, and indexes to the register.
Legal Classics Library. Full text of over 100 legal texts including Blackstone's Commentaries (1803), Cardozo's Growth of the Law (1924), and Story's first edition of Commentaries on the Constitution of the United States (1833). Provincial Statutes of Canada includes Provincial Statutes for ten of the Canadian provinces. Contains public and private acts passed by Canadian provincial governments. Current, revised, and historical content is now available for Alberta, British Columbia, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, and Ontario. Historical and revised content only is available for Manitoba, Newfoundland and Labrador, Prince Edward Island, Quebec, and Saskatchewan.
All content consists of scanned images of the original printed editions. This allows you to view the content as it originally appeared in print complete with page numbers and pictures.
To save or print articles from HeinOnline choose PRINT OPTIONS followed by DOWNLOAD AS PDF. You will then be able to print out and/or save articles using Adobe Acrobat Reader.
Lexis+ UK
For online access from a device outside the University network or via eduroam, please follow https://plus.lexis.com/uk/xhome?federationidp=RXVSX459307
Alternative names:Lexis ; LexisLibrary ; Lexis Library ; Lexis International

Lexis+ includes extensive primary and secondary legal materials from the UK, EU, USA and many other jurisdictions. It is the only online source for the full text of the All England Law Reports and Halsbury’s Laws. International content can be accessed by following the “International” link on the home page. UK legal news and newspapers are also included.

The law report series called the United States Reports (1790 to date) is the official (most authoritative) published source for the decisions (opinions) of the Supreme Court. In citations this series is abbreviated to U.S.
Alternative law report series you may encounter
Supreme Court Reporter (1882 to date) - abbreviated S.Ct. in citations
United States Supreme Court Reports, Lawyers' Edition (1790 to 1955) - abbreviated L.Ed. in citations
United States Supreme Court Reports, Lawyers' Edition, 2nd Series (1956 to date)- abbreviated L.Ed.2d. in citations

Marbury v. Madison 5 U.S. 137 (1803)
Open access transcript In this case, the US Supreme Court (in a judgment delivered by Chief Justice John Marshall) ruled that it was not bound by an act of Congress that was "repugnant to the Constitution.
The 200th Anniversary of Marbury v. Madison: The Reasons We Should Still Care About the Decision, and The Lingering Questions It Left Behind
Free resource. 2003 Blog post by Joel Grossman, Professor of Political Science at the Johns Hopkins University.
US Supreme Court: Opinions of the Court
Open access from official court website
Case Citation Finder (US Supreme Court)
The search box can "be used to retrieve the citation, in the form recommended by the Reporter of Decisions, for every signed, per curiam, or in-chambers opinion published (or soon to be published) in the United States Reports."
US Supreme Court Briefs
Open access. Section of the official website of US Office of the Solicitor General
United States Reports (Official US SC report series)
Open access to the official reports
US Supreme Court from Legal Information Institute
Free Access to Law route to US SC cases.
liibulletin: The LII Supreme Court Bulletin
Open Access "A team of Cornell Law students craft these Supreme Court Bulletin Previews, covering every case on the docket. Their goal is to provide you with objective summaries of the issues and arguments pertinent to each case the Supreme Court hears, and to do so in straightforward language. Long after the Court issues its decisions, these Previews remain one of the best sources on the internet for learning about a Supreme Court case."

Just some of the commentary on US SC case law available both in print and free online:

Supreme Decisions,great constitutional cases and their impact by Melvin I. Urofsky
Call Number: Holders of an Oxford SSO can read this online via title link
ISBN: 042997261X
Publication Date: 2018 (combined volume)
"Twenty-four Supreme Court cases .. that have shaped American constitutional law. Interpretive chapters shed light on the nuances of each case, the individuals involved, and the social, political, and cultural context at that particular moment in history. Discussing cases from nearly every decade in a two-hundred-year span."

Dissenting Opinions
Free resource. A "podcast by the Constitutional Law Institute at the University of Chicago Law School. Hosted by Will Baude, each episode of the first season will have top legal minds discuss a Supreme Court case they believe is misunderstood -- with special episodes of a "deep dive" into originalism."
Divided Argument
Free resource. "An unscheduled, unpredictable Supreme Court podcast. Hosted by Will Baude and Dan Epps."
Oyez
Free resource. "Oyez (pronounced oh-yay), a free law project at Chicago-Kent, is a multimedia archive devoted to making the Supreme Court of the United States accessible to everyone. It is a complete and authoritative source for all of the Court’s audio since the installation of a recording system in October 1955. Oyez exclusively offers transcript-synchronized and searchable audio, plain-English case summaries, illustrated decision information, and opinions. Oyez also provides detailed information on every justice throughout history and offers a panoramic tour of the Supreme Court building, including the chambers of several justices."
SCOTUSblog
Free resource. "SCOTUSblog is devoted to comprehensively covering the U.S. Supreme Court without bias and according to the highest journalistic and legal ethical standards. The blog is provided as a public service.

Tom Goldstein and Amy Howe, husband and wife, founded the blog in 2002. Reporter Lyle Denniston, who recently retired from the blog after 58 years of covering the Court, signed on a few years later. Other permanent and part-time staff members have joined over time. Significant contributions have come from other lawyers at Tom’s law firm (where Amy was formerly a partner as well), as well as their students at Stanford and Harvard Law Schools. Now during the course of any given year, up to a hundred people work on or write for the blog. ..." Read more in the About us section of blog

The blog generally reports on every merits case before the Court at least three times: prior to argument, after argument, and after the decision. In certain cases, we invite the advocates to record summaries of their arguments for podcasts. The blog notes all of the non-pauper cert. petitions that raise a legal question which in Tom’s view may interest the Justices; we give additional coverage to particularly significant petitions. For the merits cases and the petitions we cover, we provide access to all the briefs.
Supreme Court USA
Free resource. Blog from Findlaw, a part of Thomson Reuters.

Legal citation style

If you are writing a thesis or dissertation for the Oxford Law Faculty, follow US practice for the citation of primary sources (legislation, cases) - then apply OSCOLA's principles for consistency & clarity. (OSCOLA (4th edn, 2012) paras 2.8.1, 2.8.2)

Basic Guide to US Case Law Citation
Free from Legal Information Institute.

The Bluebook : a uniform system of citation by Harvard Law Review (Compiled by); Columbia Law Review (Compiled by); University of Pennsylvania Law Review (Compiled by); Yale Law Review (Compiled by)
Call Number: Ref Bibl USA U58a21
ISBN: 0692400192
Publication Date: 21st edn 2020

Bluebook Legal Citation System Guide
Guide to current edition of Bluebook from Harrvard Law School Library. The Law Bod's copy of the current edition is at Ref Bibl USA U58a21 on Level 2
Major Bluebook 21st Edition Updates
Video from Gallagher Law Library, University of Washington

ALWD Citation Manual: A Professional System of Citation by Darby Dickerson; Association of Legal Writing Directors
Call Number: Ref Bibl USA A851a3
ISBN: 0735555710
Publication Date: (3rd ed., 2005)