Judicial Branch Publications
Peggy Roebuck Jarrett, guest lecturer
http://lib.law.washington.edu/ref/judbranch.html
Sources of Law Statutes passed by legislative bodies Regulations promulgated by
administrative agencies Case law created by judges Constitutions
Case Law Created by judges in the course of
resolving disputes The written resolution of the issues The words “case,” “opinion,” and
“decision” are often used interchangeably
Not a jury verdict
Opinions and the Court System A generic court system consists of
trial courts intermediate appellate courts the appellate court of last resort
Specialized courts Courts of limited jurisdiction
The Federal Court System U.S. Supreme Court U.S. Circuit Courts of Appeals U.S. District Courts Bankruptcy Courts Courts of Special Jurisdiction
Federal Claims, Int’l Trade, Tax, Veterans Claims, Armed Forces
Publication of Opinions Only opinions of precedential value
are published in reporters Precedent allows similarly situated
people to be treated the same Published v. unpublished
Some courts allow citations to unpublished opinions in briefs
Publication of Opinions United States Reports only major
reporter in Federal Depository Library Program
Lower federal court and state appellate opinions are commercially published
Some states have official reporters Opinions in commercial reporters are
primary law
How to Find Case Law Use Free Law Online to find free sites Use a commercial database, such as
LexisNexis Academic (UW restricted) Use an annotated code Use secondary sources
Update, Update, Update Reversed or overruled opinions are
not deleted from reporters or databases
Use Keycite or Shepard’s
Free Sites for Case Finding
Washington State Courts LegalWa.org
U.S. Supreme Court Official site Cornell Legal Information Institute FindLaw GPO just has bulk data from 1937-1975
Free Sites for Case Finding U.S. Circuit Courts of Appeals and
States other than Washington Federal and State court websites FindLaw Public Library of Law Google Scholar
U.S. District Courts Google Scholar
FDsys United States Court Opinions
collection (USCOURTS) Collaborative effort between GPO
and Admin Office of the US Courts (AOUSC)
Dates back to 2004, but earlier years incomplete
Authenticated
FDsys USCOURTS As of November, 2013:
9 Circuit Courts (75%) 20 District Courts (21%) 34 Bankruptcy Courts (36%) 9th Circuit – yes District/Bankruptcy for Washington - no
Google Scholar US Supreme Court cases, 1791-date Federal district, appellate, tax, and
bankruptcy cases, 1923-date State cases, 1950-date Cons: unknown source(s) Pros: it’s Google
LexisNexis Academic Federal: all published appellate and
district court cases State: all available appellate court
cases Shepard’s Citations Finding tools: secondary sources and
annotated codes UW Restricted
PACER Public Access to Court Electronic
Records Case and docket information from
Federal courts Fee-based PACER Service Center
PACER & the FDLP First Pilot
Limited number of libraries Free Suspended early
Second Pilot “Access and Education Program” Libraries train public, for a credit Public users still need account
Alternatives to PACER RECAP: Turning PACER Around
Firefox extension PACER results go to the RECAP archive Archive is not authenticated (but it’s
free) Bloomberg Law
Public Access to Law Many law libraries are cancelling
print reporters and digests How will this affect public? Free Law Online
Good enough? Cases without indexing or editing? Unauthenticated?
Court Briefs & Oral Arguments Briefs are written arguments
submitted to an appellate court Larger law libraries may have paper
or microfiche Patrons may need to obtain them
directly from the court clerk Some briefs & oral arguments are
online
Court Briefs & Oral Arguments Audio of U.S. Supreme Court oral
arguments at Oyez Audio (and some video) of
Washington State Supreme Court at TVW
Gallagher Law Library, Briefs & Oral Arguments
Judicial Branch Business Administrative Office of the U.S. Cour
ts Federal Judicial Center Judicial Conference of the U.S. Courts Reports, studies, monographs,
newsletters, and statistics
US Sentencing Commission Develops guidelines for sentencing in
Federal courts In 2005 US Supreme Court made
guidelines advisory, not mandatory USSC Home
Administrative Agency Decisions
Most administrative agencies have a quasi-judicial function
Decide (adjudicate) individual cases arising from the application of their rules and regulations
Few agency decisions are distributed through the Federal Depository Library Program
Administrative Agency Decisions
Administrative Decisions & Other Actions (UVA)
Washington State Administrative Decisions (Gallagher)
LLMC Digital (UW Restricted) HeinOnline (UW Restricted) Use web and law library print
resources
Gallagher Law Library We are located on L1 and L2 (lower level)
of William H. Gates Hall. We are open to the public!
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