LibGuides: Justice Administration: Legal Research

Searching for Case Law

This database includes complete coverage of the official U.S. Reports bound volumes, as well as preliminary prints, slip opinions, and books and periodicals related to the U.S. Supreme Court.

Many state and federal court decisions can be found using Google Scholar. For more options, select the advanced scholar search which will allow you to narrow down your search by jurisdiction and date.

Broad search settings.

Articles (deselect patents unless you really want patents)
1. This selection is most effective if you are looking for a specific journal title or an article you know exists.
2. You can search by author, publication, and date.
Case Law
1. If searching for case law, you then have the option to limit to particular courts.

Oklahoma State Courts Network (All Cases):

Oklahoma Public Legal Research System: contains unpublished court decisions.

U.S. Supreme Court (PDFs of U.S. Reports 1991-, slip ops 2008-)
- Browse documents by Term or search “All Documents or “Docket Files.”
U.S. Courts of Appeals (links to court websites, coverage varies)
U.S. District Courts (links to court websites, coverage varies)
Findlaw (Cases & Codes > Select Court)
- U.S. Supreme Court (1893-)
  - Search by citation, party name, or full-text
  - Browse cases by year (2005-)
- U.S. Courts of Appeals (1995-, First Circuit 2/1984-, Ninth Circuit 11/1994-)
  - Search full text, by party name, or docket number
  - Browse recent decisions
Justia (Laws: Cases & Codes > Browse by Volume or Year (Sup. Ct. 1959-).
- U.S. Supreme Court (1791-)
- U.S. Courts of Appeals (1951-)
- U.S. District Courts (coverage varies) Decisions and Orders by State/District
Legal Information Institute (LII) (Legal Resources > Federal Law > Judicial Branch)
- U.S. Supreme Court (1991-, historic decisions) Search by keyword, browse by topic, author, or party.
- U.S. Courts of Appeals (links to court websites)
Case Law Access Project (Harvard Law)