Transcript Case Law - Dianne Oster - Documents Association of New Jersey

Legal Reference in the Digital Age
Federal Case Law
Court System
Supreme Court
Circuit Courts of
Appeals
District Courts
Federal Trial Courts
The Supreme Court
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Stands at the head of the judicial branch of the federal government
Provides the “definitive” interpretation of the U.S. Constitution and federal statutes
The Court of Last Resort in the federal court system
Has final word on federal issues raised in state courts and hears cases arising between the states
Exercises tight control over its docket and has wide discretion to decline review, or to deny a writ of
certiorari as it is called
Usually only accepts for consideration those cases which raise significant policy issues
In recent years has issued opinions in fewer than ninety cases during its annual term, first Monday
in October to late June
Background information of the court can be found at:
www.supremecourthistory.org
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www.supremecourtus.org
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www.scotusblog.com
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Timeline
• The timeline for a U.S. Supreme Court slip opinion is:
• Announces its decisions on an irregular basis at its 10 a.m. sessions,
beginning in October or November, reaching a peak when the most
contentious cases of the term are decided usually in late June.
• First issued as a “bench opinion”, a pamphlet version available at
the court and distributed electronically to several publishers
including FindLaw, Lexis, Loislaw, VersusLaw and Westlaw.
• Cornell Law School’s Legal Information Institute (LII)
www.law.cornell.edu/supct/ provides PDF copy of printed bench
opinion. Opinions available from 1990 to present.
• Bench opinion is superseded, usually within an hour, by the official
slip opinion, posted in PDF on Supreme Court website, possibly
containing corrections. not found in bench opinion. Slip opinion
controls if any discrepancy
• Rely on permanent official reports for citation purposes
United States Reports
• Begun in 1790 as a
private venture
• Became “official” in 1817
• Continues today as the
official edition of the
United States Supreme
Court decisions
• Slip decisions>
preliminary prints>bound
volumes
• Early volumes now
numbered sequentially
• (cited as U.S.)
• For many years, were
cited only by the names
of the individual reporters
“nominative” Marbury v.
Madison, 5 U.S. (1
Cranch) 137 (1803)
• Earliest volumes
haphazard
Other Sources
• Supreme Court Reporter (Print and Westlaw)
• Lawyers’ Edition (Print and Lexis)
Because U. S. Reports are published so slowly,
The Bluebook specifies that a recent opinion
that does not yet have a U.S. citation should
be cited to the Supreme Court Reporter or
Lawyers’ Edition
Supreme Court of the United States
www.supremecourtus.gov/opinions/boundvolumes.html
Quickest source for New Slip Opinions
Justia
www.supreme.justia.com
Cornell Law School’s Legal Information Institute
www.law.cornell.edu/supct
Circuit Courts of Appeals
• Judiciary Act of 1789
established the federal
court system, 13 circuit
courts which were added
to over time.
• In 1891 the Circuit Courts
were renamed the United
States Courts of Appeals
• The 1891 act created 9
numbered circuits, and
eventually the system
came to include 13
numbered circuits and a
series of specialized
courts of appeal.
• Every Court of Appeal has
its own website which
usually has recent
opinions and other
information.
United States Circuit Courts of Appeal
PACER: Public Access to Court Electronic Records
http://pcl.uscourt.gov
Have to register and have username and password, but if charges are less
than $10 per quarter, the fee is waived.
Individual Court Pacer sites
Will give links to the individual court sites. Type of coverage depends on
the individual courts.
Subscription sites
Fastcase www.fastcase.com
Loislaw www.loislaw.com -From
Wolters/Kluwer; 3 different subscription plans
at reasonable rates with complete
retrospective coverage of Supreme Court
cases since 1790
Versuslaw www.versuslaw.com Provides a
program free to Law Schools
Lexis/Nexis Academic
Search cases by citation,
parties or topic.
Explanation of correct
citation format to use
when searching this
way.
Includes things like case
summary, prior history,
Lexis headnotes,
lawyers involved,
statute links, etc.
Lexis/Nexis Academic
Example of case by citation
United States District Courts
• The general trial courts, the
United States District Courts, are
divided into ninety-four districts,
with one or more in each state.
• California, New York, and Texas
are each divided into four
districts, while twenty-six of the
states, including New Jersey have
just one district.
• There is no counterpart to the
U.S. Reports for the decisions of
the U.S. Courts of Appeals and
the District Courts. The only
official published sources are the
individual slip decisions that the
courts issue and post on their
websites.
• Each District Court website has
case information, local rules,
contact information and other
documents for attorneys,
litigants, and jurors.
• The format is
www.[state][district].courts.gov
or www.casd.uscourts.gov.
• There are also several trial courts
with specialized jurisdictions,
such as the United States
Bankruptcy Courts, Court of
International Trade, etc.
West’s National Reporter System
In 1876, John B. West began publishing selected
decisions of the Minnesota Supreme Court in
weekly syllabi. Three years later he launched the
NorthWestern Reporter, covering Minnesota and
five surrounding states.
West established a national reporter system with
seven regional reporters and reporters for the
Supreme Court and the lower federal courts
By 1887 competitors had folded and West National
Reporters became the dominant commercial
source.
• Each case reported was accompanied by
classified Key Number headnotes that allowed
comprehensive and uniform subject access to
cases in different jurisdictions.
• The two most famous online commercial
databases, Lexis and Westlaw, grew out of the
same tradition of uniform subject access across
jurisdictions. Lexis began in 1966 with the Ohio
State Bar Association, followed by Westlaw in
1975.
Reporters of the Federal System
published by West
Federal Reporter covers decisions in U.S. Circuit
Courts of Appeals.
Federal Supplement (begun in 1932) covers
decisions of the U.S. District Courts.
Federal Rules Decisions (begun in 1940) covers
decisions of the District Courts dealing with
procedural issues under the Federal Rules of Civil
and Criminal Procedure.
Topical reporters in West system cover decisions
such as in the Bankruptcy Court, the Claims
Court, Tax Court, etc.
Published vs. Unpublished Opinions
Only a small portion of decisions of the U.S. Courts of
Appeals are designated as “published” and therefore as
precedential. Since the 1970’s, each circuit has had
rules limiting publication to decisions meeting specific
criteria.
A decision is generally published if it lays down a new rule
of law or alters an existing rule, resolves an apparent
conflict of authority, or involves a legal issue of
continuing public interest.
These policies of selective publication are used to shape
precedent and cut down on a glut of reported cases
Less than sixteen percent of Court of Appeals cases
are terminated with a published opinion.
Until recently, unpublished decisions could not be
cited as persuasive authority under most circuits’
rules. The demand for them kept increasing
however, as these cases could provide guidance
of how a court would treat a similar subsequent
claim.
Lexis and Westlaw provided access to thousands of
decisions that were “unpublished” and eventually
other internet sites did as well.
• In 2000, the Eighth Circuit ruled in Anastasoff v. United
States that the ban on citing unpublished opinions was
an unconstitutional violation of Article III.
• In the wake of this decision, West began publication of
the Federal Appendix in 2001, a series limited to
unpublished Court of Appeals decisions. A new Federal
Rule of Appellate Procedure was adopted in 2006
which permits Unpublished decisions to be cited as
persuasive authority
• Policies on decisions prior to 2007 vary from circuit to
circuit
The Bluebook
• Compiled by the editors of the Harvard Law
Review, the Columbia Law Review, the
University of Pennsylvania Law Review and the
Yale Law Journal.
• Considered the “Bible” of legal citation, this
inexpensive reference source also contains
much other pertinent information about
courts and the legal system, all in one easy to
use book.
Google Scholar
http://scholar.google.com