Research, Citation, & Class Guides: Political Science 418: Legal Research & Writing: Cases

Case Law Research

The Westlaw Campus Research database is the primary tool for finding federal and state cases at UW-Whitewater, but some other resources also are listed below. Use the search tips on the "Using Westlaw Campus Research" tab for keyword searching. Use options on the left of search results to search within the results, or to limit by date, court, etc. See "Legal Research: A Guide to Case Law" from the Library of Congress for additional information about case law research.

Citations, names of parties to cases, titles of articles or legislation, and keywords can be entered into the main Westlaw Campus Research search box, but results may include all types of legal authority. The jurisdiction to be searched shows to the right of the search box, which defaults to All Federal; click to change or add. For international materials, first choose "International Materials" from the Browse menu below the search box.

To limit search results to cases, first click Cases on the browse menu below the search box, and make jurisdiction selections if desired. "Cases" will appear to the left of the search box.

Federal Courts

About the Courts

Court Rules

Current Rules of Practice & Procedure (United States Courts)
Linked from here: National federal rules for appellate procedure, bankruptcy procedure, civil procedure, criminal procedure, and evidence
Filing and Rules (Supreme Court of the United States)
Linked from here: Court Rules, Guides for Counsel, Forms

U.S. Supreme Court

Also available in Andersen Library: U.S. Supreme Court Reports, Lawyers' Edition to v.130 L.Ed. 2d [1995] (2nd-floor Law Collection), and U.S. Reports from v. 375 U.S. [1963] (1st-floor Federal Documents Collection, Ju 6.8:).

Westlaw Campus Research
- This link opens in a new window
Decisions since 1790, briefs since 1870. Use Browse menu options "Cases" or "Briefs"
Partial funding provided by UW System Shared Electronic Collection.

Opinions (Supreme Court of the United States)
Opinions since vol. 502 (1991 term)
Oyez
Click Cases, then select by Supreme Court term or by issue. Click a case to access abstracts of U.S. Supreme Court cases, with audio of oral arguments for cases since 1955, and links to written opinions for all cases since the 1800's.
Case Law (Google Scholar)
Select Case Law, then click "Select courts" to choose Supreme Court. Then click Done and use the search box.
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Click Case Law under the search box, then click either "Wisconsin courts", or click elect courts" to choose the states' courts to search.
United States Supreme Court Cases (FindLaw)
Searchable database of U.S. Supreme Court decisions since 1760. Also browsable by year or volume.
Seminal Supreme Court Cases Regarding Federal Indian Law (Wisconsin Judicare)
SCOTUSblog
Pending case information and links to transcripts and audio recordings of argued cases

U.S. Courts of Appeals/Circuit Courts

Also available in Andersen Library: Federal Reporter to v.160 F.3d [1998] (2nd-floor Law Collection)

Westlaw Campus Research
- This link opens in a new window
Use Browse menu option "Cases" and then "U.S. Courts of Appeals." Coverage varies by court. 7th Circuit coverage begins 1891.
Partial funding provided by UW System Shared Electronic Collection.

Case Law (Google Scholar)
Select Case Law, then click "Select courts" to choose federal Court of Appeals within Circuits. Then click Done and use the search box.
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Click Case Law under the search box, then click either "Wisconsin courts", or click elect courts" to choose the states' courts to search.
United States Courts Opinions (govinfo.gov)
Expand Appellate and a Circuit. Coverage varies by Circuit,

U.S. District Courts

Also available in Andersen Library: Federal Supplement to v.50 F.2d [1999] (2nd-floor Law Collection)

Westlaw Campus Research
- This link opens in a new window
Use Browse menu option "Cases" and then "Federal District Courts." Coverage varies by court. Wisconsin coverage begins 1849.
Partial funding provided by UW System Shared Electronic Collection.

Case Law (Google Scholar)
Select Case Law, then click "Select courts" to choose federal district court(s) listed within Circuits. Then click Done and use the search box.
more...less...
Click Case Law under the search box, then click either "Wisconsin courts", or click elect courts" to choose the states' courts to search.
United States Courts Opinions (govinfo.gov)
Expand District and a state (not all states' federal district courts are included; Wisconsin is not). Coverage begins 2004.

State Court Cases

Cases from appellate-level courts in all states are available in Westlaw too, as well as from most state court websites. See the Wisconsin Law webpage from the Wisconsin State Law Library for information about courts in Wisconsin.

Cases in Annotated Statutes

Annotations in statutes or codes may contain citations to court cases that have interpreted the law. Go to Wisconsin Statutes & Annotations. Click "Statutes & Annotations" or use the search box at the top right corner to go to the desired section of the statutes. Below is an example (19.35(7)(c)).

Reporters

Reporters are publications that report court cases. The different reporters report cases from particular courts, e.g., Federal Supplement reports federal district court cases. Appellate state court cases are published in "regional" reporters; each state is assigned to a particular region. There also are or have been individual state reporters. In addition, U.S. Supreme Court cases have been published in more than one reporter, e.g., the United States Supreme Court Reports, Lawyers' Edition (L. Ed.), Supreme Court Reporter (S. Ct.) and U.S. Reports (U.S.).

When the same case is available in more than one publication, the citations to the other publications are called parallel citations.

Briefs

Briefs filed for U.S. Supreme Court cases are available from Westlaw Campus Research since 1870 (selected) and FindLaw (1999-2007?). An analysis of cases and a listing of briefs filed is provided by the American Bar Association's Preview of United States Supreme Court Cases (2004/2005 term-previous term; access to the current term requires a subscription except for one featured case each month for use in classrooms).