LibGuides: Legal Studies : United States Supreme Court

Opinions and Arguments

FindLaw US Supreme Court Decisions
FindLaw’s searchable database of U.S. Supreme Court decisions provides free access to the court’s historic decisions dating back to 1760. You can browse decisions by calendar year below, or search by party name, case title, or citation.

HeinOnline

HeinOnline is a comprehensive law research database that contains more than 2,200 law journals.

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HeinOnline includes more than 2,200 law journals, entire Congressional Record, Federal Register, and Code of Federal Regulations, complete coverage of the U.S. Reports back to 1754, and entire databases dedicated to treaties, constitutions, case law, world trials, classic treatises, international trade, foreign relations, U.S. Presidents. To learn more about each collection, visit HeinOnline's Libguides .

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Format: full text
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Justia Supreme Court Center
Justia provides a free collection of all U.S. Supreme Court decisions from 1791 to the present. We also offer opinion summaries, briefs, oral argument audio, and resources that provide a panoramic view of each case in its context.
LII Supreme Court Collection
This site, maintained by Cornell Law School's Legal Information Institute, offers Supreme Court decisions from the early court through the present; searchable by topic, author (i.e. justice who wrote the opinion), and party (to the case). Note: Coverage prior to 1990 may not be complete

Nexis Uni
News, business, legal, medical, & reference information from nearly 5,000 sources.

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Nexis Uni provides access to a wide range of news, business, legal, medical, and reference information from nearly 5,000 sources, most of them available in full text.

The service covers newspapers, magazines, wire services, federal and state court opinions, federal and state statutes, federal regulations, and SEC filings. News information is updated daily and wire services several times daily.

Subject Areas: General, Law, Political Science, Current Events

Format: Newspaper and Journal Articles
Update Schedule: Daily
Database Producer: LexisNexis Academic & Library Solutions.

The Oyez Project
Oyez (pronounced OH-yay) is a multimedia archive devoted to making the Supreme Court of the United States accessible to everyone. Recordings and transcripts of oral arguments going back to October 1955.
United States Reports
This is the only "official" version of Supreme Court decisions.

Orders

The Supreme Court issues orders related to the grant or denial of certiorari, stays, motions in pending cases, mandamus, rehears, permission to file amicus briefs, and attorney discipline.

Orders of the Court (US Supreme Court website)
Order lists from 2010 to present
Legal Information Institute (Cornell University)
Search by party name or date from October Term 1998 to present
Journal of the United States Supreme Court (US Supreme Court website)
Available from 1889. The Journal reflects the disposition of each case, names the court whose judgment is under review, lists the cases argued that day and the attorneys who presented oral argument, contains miscellaneous announcements by the Chief Justice from the Bench, and sets forth the names of attorneys admitted to the Bar of the Supreme Court. It does not contain opinions of the Court

Court Records & Briefs

Records and briefs are the documents that were submitted to or generated by a court in a particular case, from the complaint (in a civil case) or the indictment (in a criminal case) to other pleadings, motions, orders, transcripts of the trial, jury verdicts, and associated materials.

Making of Modern Law: U.S. Supreme Court Records and Briefs, 1832-1978
Online archive containing nearly 11 million pages of records and briefs brought before the U.S. Supreme Court between 1832 and 1978.

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Subjects: History

Making of the Modern Law: U.S. Supreme Court Records and Briefs, 1832-1978, contains nearly 11 million pages of primary source material. This resource covers cases brought before the U.S. Supreme court and includes broad coverage of American history and the U.S. judicial system.

Format: Full Text
Dates of Coverage: 1832-1978
Database Distributor: Gale Cengage

US Supreme Court Briefs (NexisUni | Legal)
Earliest brief dated August 12, 1936 through current. Includes merit briefs for cases granted certiorari and special masters, amicus curiae briefs, and joint appendices beginning in January 1979, with selected coverage from 1936.
Supreme Court Briefs (Office of the Solicitor General | Department of Justice)
Briefs from 1983 to present

Background Information

Constitutionalism and Democracy by George Skouras
ISBN: 9783031669057

Publication Date: 2024

This book explore the power of judicial review as held by the United States Supreme Court. The legal analysis fuses with an exploration of democratic theory, We the People, efforts in contesting this power. It also explores the class status of the American Constitution and the difficulties of amending it through its many protections against making major changes to its structure.
The Most Powerful Court in the World by Stuart Banner
ISBN: 9780197780350

Publication Date: 2024

An authoritative, even-handed, and accessible history of the Supreme Court of the United States, the most powerful court in the world and the final arbiter of the world's oldest constitution.
The U. S. Supreme Court: A Very Short Introduction by Linda Greenhouse
ISBN: 9780197689462

Publication Date: 2023

For 30 years, Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Linda Greenhouse chronicled the activities of the U.S. Supreme Court and its justices as a correspondent for the New York Times. This third edition of her Very Short Introduction tracks the changes in the Court's makeup over the past decade, including the landmark decisions of the Obama and Trump eras and the emergence of a conservative supermajority.

About the Justices

Judge Search - CourtListener
Use this free CourtListerner database to find information about state and federal judges and their conflicts of interest.

The Conscientious Justice by Ryan C. Black; Ryan J. Owens; Justin Wedeking; Patrick C. Wohlfarth
ISBN: 9781316618004

Publication Date: 2021

This book argues that justices' personalities influence their behavior, which in turn influences legal development and the United States Constitution. This impressive group of authors exhaustively examine every part of the Court's decision-making process, and focus on the trait of conscientiousness and how it influences justices over nine different empirical contexts, from agenda setting to writing the Court's opinions.
The Supreme Court Justices by Clare Cushman (Editor)
ISBN: 9781608718337

Publication Date: 2012

The Supreme Court Justices: Illustrated Biographies, 1789-2012, Third Edition, provides a single-volume reference profiling every Supreme Court justice from John Jay through Elena Kagan.
A Supreme Court Unlike Any Other by Kevin J. McMahon
ISBN: 9780226831084

Publication Date: 2024

A data-rich examination of the US Supreme Court's unprecedented detachment from the democratic processes that buttress its legitimacy. Today's Supreme Court is unlike any other in American history. This is not just because of its jurisprudence but also because the current Court has a tenuous relationship with the democratic processes that help establish its authority.

News and Analysis

CQ Press Supreme Court Collection
This database offers authoritative information and data on cases, justices, and the history and power of the U.S. Supreme Court. Researchers will find the data and tools to answer questions about justices and their opinions and behavior.
SCOUTUSblog
Led by Amy Howe, SCOTUSblog is devoted to covering the U.S. Supreme Court comprehensively, without bias and according to the highest journalistic and legal ethical standards. The site is provided as a public service. Originally founded in 2002, SCOTUSblog was later acquired by Dispatch Media, Inc. in 2025.
Supreme Court Case Summaries and Updates
From the American Bar Association, Supreme Court Case summaries and updates

Supreme Court Podcasts

5 - 4
"A podcast where we dissect and analyze the Supreme Court cases that have contaminated our nation, like microplastics have contaminated our bloodstreams"
Advisory Opinions
Also owned by The Dispatch, Advisor Opinions is a podcast about the US Supreme Court, including interviews with sitting justices.
Amicus
A show about the law and the nine Supreme Court justices who interpret it for the rest of America.
Dissenting Opinions
Welcome to Dissenting Opinions, a new podcast by the Constitutional Law Institute at the University of Chicago Law School. Hosted by Will Baude, each episode will have top legal minds discuss a Supreme Court case they believe is misunderstood -- with special episodes of a "deep dive" into a legal topic.
More Perfect
More Perfect is a guide to the current moment on the Court. We bring the highest court of the land down to earth, telling the human dramas at the Court that shape so many aspects of American life — from our religious freedom to our artistic expression, from our reproductive choices to our voice in democracy.
SCOTUStalk
A biweekly podcast hosted by Amy Howe of SCOTUSblog, SCOTUStalk takes a “plain English” look at events and topics relating to the Supreme Court.
Strict Scrutiny
A podcast about the United States Supreme Court and the legal culture that surrounds it.