Research Guides: Researching US Supreme Court Cases: Opinions and Decisions

Relevant Definitions

Opinion A court's written explanation of a judgment, usually including a summary of the facts, an explanation of the law on the issue, and the court's analysis for applying the law to those facts and coming to a conclusion. The opinions of appellate courts (courts that review the decisions of trial courts, the highest appellate court being the Supreme Court) are frequently published and create rules for future litigants to follow. Appellate judges who disagree with a majority opinion may file dissenting opinions.

Definition provided by Nolo’s Plain-English Law Dictionary.

Dissenting opinion The opinion of a judge who does not agree with the majority opinion. (See also: dissent)

Definition provided by Nolo’s Plain-English Law Dictionary.

How to read a judicial opinion

How to Read a Legal Opinion: A Guide for New Law Students (Kerr)
Orin Kerr is a professor of law at the George Washington University Law School. His short guide will help you understand how to read judicial opinions (and dissents) more effectively. (Although some of this guide pertains to preparing for the case method used in US law schools, Kerr's discussion of the structure of judicial opinions may be relevant for undergraduate students.)

How to Use HeinOnline to Find Opinions (etc.)

Finding Supreme Court Opinions and Decisions

Supreme Court opinions are officially published in a series of books called United States Reports. You can find the full run of these books online through HeinOnline. Many of the print volumes are available from the TriCo Libraries (see this page for more information).

HeinOnline: United States Reports
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The opinions of the Supreme Court of the United States are published officially in a set of case books called the United States Reports. HeinOnline offers online versions of United States Reports, covering 1754-present. Using HeinOnline, you can easily find a Supreme Court case by citation.

If you don't have a specific case in mind, generally you'll want to use a secondary source to find a citation rather than trying to search United States Reports by keyword.

As of March 2014, cases decided through October 2008 can be found in United States Reports. Consult another source on this list to find opinions for more recent cases.
United States Supreme Court Reports — Lawyers' Edition
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This unofficial reporter can be used in print at Swarthmore.
Cornell Legal Information Institute: Supreme Court Cases (1990-Present)
Easy to use resource for finding opinions on relatively recent Supreme Court cases (1990-present). Search for a specific case or browse by topic, author (justice who wrote an opinion), or party (as in party to the case, not Democrat or Republican). Select cases from 1955-present are also available on this site, but coverage is not comprehensive for these years.
FindLaw: US Supreme Court Opinions (1893-Present)
FindLaw offers a searchable database of Supreme Court decisions since 1893 (U.S. Supreme Court Decisions: U.S. Reports 150-, 1893-). You can browse by year and U.S. Reports volume number, or search by citation, case title or full text. FindLaw also offers an archive of Opinion Summaries from September 2000 to the Present.

If the particular case you need is not included in FindLaw or the Cornell Legal Information Institute, use HeinOnline (which is comprehensive).
LexisNexs: Landmark Cases (by topic)
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Case summaries and opinions on major cases, organized by topic (e.g. abortion & birth Control, capital punishment, civil commitment). In LexisNexis Landmark Cases, you can click on links to cases cited by the justices to research those cases in greater depth.

Click here for a very short video tutorial on finding major cases directly, without getting caught up in search results for appellate rulings and other related cases.
HeinOnline: United States Reports (Slip Opinions and Reports)
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Several days after an opinion is announced by the Court, it is printed in a 6" x 9" self-cover pamphlet called a "slip opinion." Each slip opinion consists of the majority or plurality opinion, any concurring or dissenting opinions, and the syllabus. It may contain corrections not appearing in the bench opinion. The number of slip opinions published each Term has varied over the years from as few as 75 to as many as 150.

How to Use Landmark Cases (LexisNexis Academic)

This tutorial will help you find major cases (e.g. Roe v. Wade) directly, rather than having to sort through a large number of related search results.