LibGuides: Free & Low Cost Legal Research: Federal Materials

Federal Materials in this Guide

Federal Case Law

Federal case law can also be found on Google Scholar, Findlaw.com for Legal Professionals, and Public Library of Law. See, Case Law - General Sources .

Supreme Court Decisions

U.S. Reports
More than 35,000 cases published in the printed bound editions of the United States Reports (U.S. Reports) are now available from the Library of Congress. Users can search by date, name of the justice authoring the opinion, subject and by the main legal concepts at issue in each case. PDF versions of individual cases can be viewed and downloaded.

US Supreme Court Opinions This link opens in a new window
From Justia
Supreme Court of the United States This link opens in a new window
Access to the latest Supreme Court slip opinions and decisions from the Court's 1991 term and subsequent years. Additional volumes will be included in the "Bound Volumes" section after they are published in print form. Select "Opinions" from the menu on the left.
United States Reports - Historical
v. 1-542 (1754-2004)
Cornell Legal Information Institute (LII) This link opens in a new window
Access to Supreme Court decisions from 1990 and selected "Historic Decisions."

Other Federal Court Decisions

United States Courts Opinions (USCOURTS) This link opens in a new window
A project between the U.S. Government Publishing Office (GPO) and the Administrative Office of the United States Courts (AOUSC) to provide public access to opinions from selected United States appellate, district, and bankruptcy courts. The content of this collection dates back to April 2004, though searchable electronic holdings for some courts may be incomplete for this earlier time period.
OpenJurist This link opens in a new window
Searchable access to selected U.S. Court opinions.
Justia This link opens in a new window
A for-profit company that makes available, for free, a large volume of federal and state legal material, including both case law and statutes. Dates of coverage vary.
US Court of Appeals This link opens in a new window
US Federal District Court This link opens in a new window

Federal Court of Appeals Decisions
From Cornell LII