Guides: Supreme Court Research Guide: Secondary Sources

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Guides & Bibliographies

Encyclopedia of Supreme Court Quotations
About 900 passages are chosen to be included for their quotability , inherent beauty, literary quality, and profound philosophy. The passages are grouped into thirteen chapters: ranging from the legislative branch to the Fourteenth Amendment.
Guide to the U.S. Supreme Court
A two-volume set conveying the story of the court's history, conflicts decisions, workings, and impact. Volume 1 details the Court's decisions. Volume 2 focuses on the Court's institutional setting and how the Justices go about their work.
The New York Times on the Supreme Court, 1857-2008
A guide to the Supreme Court with extensive excerpts from the New York Times.
The Oxford Companion to the Supreme Court of the United States
This book is a guide to the history and current operation of the Supreme Court. Entries explore all the justices, the nominees who were rejected by the Senate, the most prominent lawyers who have argued before the Court, and many other figures important in the Court's history. Another category of entries treats concepts that are central either to the Court's operation or to the meaning of American constitutionalism. Institutional entries cover, in historical perspective, such topics as the office of the chief justice, the judicial clerks, and more.
The Oxford Guide to United States Supreme Court Decisions
Includes over 450 entries on major Supreme Court cases and each entry includes a summary of the case and its background, reasoning, and impact as well as the U.S. Reports citation, date the case was argued and decided, final vote, and who concurred and dissented.
The Supreme Court
The book examines each major aspect of the Court: the selection, backgrounds, and departures of justices; the creation of the Court's agenda; the decision-making process and the factors that shape the Court's decisions; the substance of the Court's policies; and the Court's impact on government and American society. Describing the Court's personalities and procedures, and delving deeply to explain the actions of the Court and the behavior of justices, Baum shows students the Court's complexity and reach.
The Supreme Court and the American Republic: An Annotated Bibliography
Includes sources that "reveal the origins of the court, its institutional and jurisdictional growth, its shaping of the Constitution, its numerous political imbroglios, and the values, traits, and deeds of the more than one hundred individuals who have comprised its membership."
The Supreme Court A to Z
This volume offers information about the Supreme Court, including its history, traditions, organization, dynamics, and personalities. It also examines legal decisions that have shaped contemporary interpretations of the U.S. Constitution and the backgrounds of individuals who as justices have decided the issues that affect every citizen.
The Supreme Court Compendium: Data, Decisions, and Developments
An impressive collection of data tables on the most important aspects of the U.S. Supreme Court, including its development as an institution and the Justices, backgrounds, nominations, and confirmations.
The U.S. Supreme Court: A Bibliography
The volume contains citations about the Court, including its history, development, powers, and relations with the other branches of the federal government. This book also focuses on the accomplishments and activities of the individual Justices, including their private lives and public careers. The unannotated bibliography cites books, articles, dissertations, essays, and research reports, but not U.S. government documents, such as nomination hearings, memorials, or other government documents about the Court or individual Justices. The time period covered is from 1850 to 1989.

Journals

Cato Supreme Court Review
In the Cato Supreme Court Review, leading legal scholars analyze the most important cases of the Supreme Court's most recent term. The Review is published annually on Constitution Day, September 17, in tandem with a major symposium.
Constitutional Commentary
From the University of Minnesota Law School, this is one of the few faculty-edited law journals in the country. The journal publishes shorter and less ponderous articles, as opposed to the more lengthy and heavily footnoted articles found in traditional law reviews.
Duke Journal of Constitutional Law and Public Policy
This journal "examines legal issues at the intersection of constitutional litigation and public policy."
Harvard Law Review
"The November issue contains the Supreme Court Foreword, usually by a prominent constitutional scholar, the faculty Case Comment, and 24 Case Notes, analyses by third-year students of the most important decisions of the previous Supreme Court Term, and a compilation of Court statistics."
Hastings Constitutional Law Quarterly
The country's oldest law journal devoted exclusively to constitutional law.
Journal of Supreme Court History: Yearbook of the Supreme Court History Society
Published for the Supreme Court Historical Society, the journal and the society are dedicated to the collection and preservation of the history of the Supreme Court of the United States, and to expanding public awareness of that history and heritage.… Also available free online from the Supreme Court Historical Society.
Preview of United States Supreme Court Case
Published by the Public Education Division of the American Bar Association, irregular, currently issued eight times a year.
Supreme Court Debates
Monthly journal containing short articles debating current Supreme Court cases and controversies by Congressional Digest Corp.
Supreme Court Economic Review
Published by The Law and Economics Center at George Mason University School of Law this is "an interdisciplinary journal that seeks to provide a forum for scholarship in law and economics, public choice and constitutional political economy."
Supreme Court Review
From the University of Chicago, this is an in-depth annual critique of the Supreme Court and its work, keeping up on the forefront of the origins, reforms, and interpretations of American law. SCR is written by and for legal academics, judges, political scientists, journalists, historians, economists, policy planners, and sociologists."
Supreme Court Yearbook
From CQ Press, the Supreme Court Yearbook contains case summaries, year-end overviews, essays, and more.
The Third Branch
The monthly newsletter of the Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts. Also available free online from the U.S. Courts (1995 - )
University of Pennsylvania Journal of Constitutional Law
William and Mary Bill of Rights Journal

CRS Reports About the Supreme Court

Congressional Research Service, Supreme Court Opinions: October ____ Term
The CRS publishes an annual report summarizing Supreme Court opinions for each term. Each opinion description includes the citation, date of decision, subjects headings, a short description, and the final vote and opinion authors. Below, we highlight where CRS reports are available for your use.

Congressional Research Service (CRS) Reports

Congressional Research Service (CRS), the research arm of the Library of Congress, provides authoritative, objective, and nonpartisan research and analysis to committees and members of the House of Representatives and the Senate, regardless of party and affiliation. CRS produces new research as issues develop or are anticipated, and their reports are designed specifically to meet the needs of Congress. CRS research, while on a variety of topics, falls under five divisions: American Law; Domestic Social Policy; Foreign Affairs, Defense and Trade; Government and Finance; and Resources, Science, and Industry.

ProQuest Congressional
ProQuest Congressional provides CRS reports from 1916 to the present. It is one of the best, most comprehensive single sources for locating and searching through CRS Reports. (Use the Advanced Search page and uncheck everything except CRS Reports under Content Types on the left.)
CRS Reports on Congress.gov
Congress.gov provides public access to reports and other products created by Congressional Research Service. CRS routinely updates reports on their site, designed to reflect new developments and the needs of Congress. This is the official site for CRS Reports.
HeinOnline
HeinOnline provides scanned versions of older CRS Reports from 1999 to the present. CRS reports are listed alphabetically.
EveryCRSReport.com
EveryCRSReport.com provides free access to its collection of CRS reports and also includes archived reports from University of North Texas's CRS Report collection. You can Browse by Topic using the option below the search bar.
Lexis
Provides CRS reports as they are delivered from 2005 to the present. All reports link to the PDF version provided by CRS.

Datasets and Statistical Sources

The Supreme Court Database (hosted by Washington University in St. Louis)
The Database contains over two hundred pieces of information about each case decided by the Court between the 1791 and 2020 terms.
The Supreme Court Opinion Writing Database (hosted by Washington University in St. Louis)
This is a raw dataset archive for The Burger Court Opinion Writing Database.
United States Supreme Court Judicial Database Terms Series
Data is available in the following formats: ACSII, SAS, SPSS, and Stata. United States Supreme Court Judicial Database, 1953-1997 Terms (compiled by Harold J. Spaeth). Expanded United States Supreme Court Judicial Database, 1946-1968 Terms(compiled by Harold J. Spaeth). United States Supreme Court Judicial Database, Phase II: 1953-1993 (compiled by James L. Gibson)
The Judicial Research Initiative (JuRI) (University of South Carolina)
This website includes the following data in SPSS, Stata, SAS, and ASCII formats: the Vinson-Warren Court Database, 1946-1968 Terms; the Expanded Burger Court Database, 1969-1985 Terms; the Justice-Centered Rehnquist Court Database, 1986-1998; the Justice-Centered Burger Court Database, 1969-1985 Terms; and the Justice-Centered Warren Court Database, 1953-1969 Terms.
Biographical Directory of Federal Judges (Federal Judicial Center)
Simple, web-based database that enables users to search for Justices based on particular characteristics, such as by nominating president, gender, race or ethnicity, and reason for termination.
SCOTUSblog Statpack
Statistics from October Term 1995 to present. These statistics have been published in U.S. Law Week and include information on disposition of cases, opinion authors, and votes and voting alignment.

Current Awareness

U.S. Law Week
"Supreme Court Today" provides lists of and status information for cases in which certiorari has been granted. Available online through Bloomberg Law.
U.S. Law Week "Supreme Court Today" archives
9/04/1934 - 7/1/1997 editions are available
ISCOTUSnow
IIT Chicago Kent School of Law blog on Supreme Court happenings
Jurist
This online legal resource based out of University of Pittsburgh regularly offers stories on the Supreme Court.
Legal News on Lexis
Updated daily with news from Law360, American Lawyer Media and regional resources.
New York Times - U.S. Supreme Court Topic
SCOTUSblog
A blog that includes daily previews ("Today at the Court") and summaries (Round-ups), filings, transcripts, opinions and orders, commentary, court calendar, and other SCOTUS-related information.
Westlaw Bulletin - US Supreme Court
Summaries of recent U.S. Supreme Court cases, rules, orders, and other legal activity.

Websites

U.S. Supreme Court
The official website of the U.S. Supreme Court. The site provides background information about the Court, as well as the docket, opinions, orders, rules (current), oral argument transcripts, oral argument recordings, and the oral argument schedule.
U.S. Courts
The official website of the federal judiciary provides information on many aspects of the judiciary: judges and judgeships, judiciary budget, judicial compensation, caseload statistics, proceedings of the Judicial Conference of the United States, federal rulemaking, and more. It also provides access to the websites of various federal courts.
Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts
The AOC provides a wide range of administrative, legal, financial, management, program, and information technology services to the federal courts.
Judicial Conference of the United States
Created by Congress in 1922, the fundamental purpose of the Judicial Conference is to make policy with regard to the administration of the United States courts.
Federal Judicial Center
Provides biographical info on federal judges in the History tab of the page.
The Supreme Court Historical Society
Founded by Chief Justice Warren E. Burger, the Society, a private non-profit organization, is dedicated to the collection and preservation of the history of the Supreme Court of the United States.
OYEZ: U.S. Supreme Court Media
The OYEZ Project provides access to more than 3,000 hours of Supreme Court audio recordings of oral argument and opinion announcements as well as other media.

Supreme Court Research Guide

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