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The purpose of this guide is to familiarize you with the best resources for research on your Mock Supreme Court Cases
Background Information
You'll need information
on the
justice and their past rulings and a
good understanding
of the issues
so you can develop an assessment of the
Justice's:
- judicial philosophy,
- major contributions to constitutional
doctrines, and
- major opinions
Most of this information is readily available in books. Using the Library Catalog, Search
by his/her name (last name, first) as a SUBJECT.
Don't forget to use these other catalogs
for more books on your topic.
| Circuit |
1-2
day delivery * |
| Melvyl |
5-10 day delivery ** |
| WorldCat |
5-10
day delivery ** |
* Books will be delivered to Library
for pickup.
** Find a book in this databases, and
fill-out an Interlibrary Loan delivery request.
Book will be delivered to Library for
pickup. |
Sources with helpful background information about the justices:
| Confirmation Hearings for each justice, Senate Committee on the Judiciary |
Online transcripts of the confirmation hearings. Look for the personal statements made by each nominee for personal and philosophical information. |
Oxford Companion to the
Supreme Court of the United States.
REF KF8742.A35 O93 1992 |
A comprehensive guide
to the history and current operation
of the Court including concepts, biographies
of the justices and major decisions. |
Supreme Court Yearbook.
REF KF8741.A152 S87 |
This annual guide to
the Supreme Court term includes case
summaries arranged by type of case,
opinion excerpts and a preview of the
coming term.
|
CQ Guide to the U.S. Supreme Court
REF
KF8742 W567 1997 |
These 2 volumes will answer many of
your background questions.
|
Encyclopedia of the American
Constitution.
REF KF4548 E53 |
A reference work that
tries to bridge the disciplines of history,
law and political science. Signed articles
with short bibliographies. |
The Constitution of the
United States of America: Analysis and
Interpretation.
REF KF4527 J39 1973 |
Annotations of cases decided
by the Supreme Court of the United States
to June 29, 1972. Supplements to July
1980. Full text of the Constitution
with notes on the cases interpreting
each Article and Section. Includes Table
of Cases cited and Subject Index |
Guide to American Law.
REF KF 154 G85 1983 |
A twelve volume encyclopedia
that provides a wealth of information
on all aspects of the American legal
issues. The 12th volume is a subject
index which is highly recommended. Entries
range from brief descriptions to critical
essays sometimes scattered in different
volumes of the Guide |
Cases in Constitutional Law.
REF KF 4549 C8 1979 |
This handy guide is arranged
by broad subjects and has no index.
But the table of contents is detailed
and the entries are very worthwhile. |
| OYEZ.org |
OYEZ is an archive devoted to the U.S. Supreme Court. According to the website, the OYEZ Project "provides abstracts for only a portion of cases decided by the Supreme Court of the United States." They also offer brief biographies of justices, along with their roles in decisions. If you find a case on OYEZ, search for the full-text in Lexis Nexis. |
Legal Information Institute
|
The LII is a project run by Cornell Law School and provides access to free legal information. It provides an extensive list of legal topics pulled from a broad array of primary law sources. Gives a brief overview of a topic and then provides links to the text of the laws themselves. It also offers a concise list of decisions of each of the justices and their roles in the decisions. |
Legal news and law reviews may also provide you with necessary background information. To search for law reviews or legal news use Lexis/Nexis Academic and choose Legal Research.
| LAW REVIEWS & LEGAL NEWS |
- Enter SEARCH TERMS
- Under SELECT SOURCES, choose SEARCH WITHIN DOCUMENT SECTIONS
and click SHOW +. Some helpful sections:
- JUDGES: the names of the judges hearing the case.
- OPINION: the text of the opinion issued by the court. It includes the majority, dissent, and concurrance.
- WRITTENBY: the name of the judge(s) authoring the opinion, including the majority, concurrence, and dissent.
- Be sure to click ADD TO SEARCH and that it appears in the search box above
- Choose DATE RANGE
- Once you receive your list of results, you can limit the results using the left side of the page by LAW REVIEWS & JOURNALS or LEGAL NEWS.
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Cases, Opinions and Briefs
The best resource for legal primary sources is Lexis/Nexis Academic.
To get started:
- Choose LEGAL on the top menu
- On the right menu, choose FEDERAL & STATE CASES
| CASES |
To find a case involving due process:
- Under SELECT SOURCES, chooseU.S. SUPREME COURT CASES LAWYER'S EDITION
- Right below, under SEARCH WITHIN DOCUMENT SECTIONS
and click SHOW +.
- Choose SECTION = SYLLABUS
- Type in DUE PROCESS into the TERMS box
- Click ADD TO SEARCH
- Choose your DATE RANGE
- Click SEARCH
If you have the parties names, or the citation, enter the parties names under CASE NAME. |
| OPINIONS |
To find a case on due process where
Burger has written the majority, concurring,
or dissenting opinion.
- Under SELECT SOURCES, chooseU.S. SUPREME COURT CASES LAWYER'S EDITION
- Right below, under SEARCH WITHIN DOCUMENT SECTIONS
and click SHOW +.
- Choose SECTION = SYLLABUS
- Type in DUE PROCESS into the TERMS box
- Click ADD TO SEARCH
- Choose SECTION = OPINIONBY
- Type in BURGER into the TERMS box
- Click ADD TO SEARCH
- Choose your DATE RANGE
- Click SEARCH
|
| BRIEFS |
To find briefs for a court case you have chosen, it's easiest to search by the case name. To continue with our example of due process:
- Under SELECT SOURCES, chooseU.S. SUPREME COURT BRIEFS
- Enter the parties names under CASE NAME (e.g. Wilkie v. Robbins)
- Click SEARCH
This will give you only the briefs written about this case.
|
Citing Sources
As you write your paper, you'll need
to cite passages and ideas from the sources
you've found. Check with your professor
which style is preferred for this assignment.
 |
APA: Publication manual
of the American Psychological Association.
5th ed. Washington, DC : American
Psychological Association, 2001.
|
 |
ASA style guide: American Sociological Association.
2nd ed.
Washington, D.C. : American Sociological Association, 1997.
|
 |
Chicago
manual of style. 15th
ed. Chicago : University of Chicago
Press, 2003.
|
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MLA handbook
for writers of research papers.
6th ed. New York : Modern Language
Association of America, 2003.
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