Federal Appeals Court Decisions
The Federal Court System
Apart from specialized courts, the federal court system comprises the following:
| The Supreme Court of the United States | Most cases are appeals from lower courts. In addition to cases from lower federal courts, cases from state supreme courts which involve a point of federal law may be heard. The court has the discretion to decide which cases will be considered. |
| U.S. Courts of Appeals (also called Circuit Courts of Appeals) | Appellate courts which deal with appeals from the district courts in their circuit. |
| U.S. District Courts | Trial courts which deal with violations of federal criminal law, disputes regarding federal laws or treaties, and some cases between residents of different states. |
Court Locator - Maps showing jurisdictions of the various federal courts
Finding a legal citation in HeinOnline - short guide for locating case law at both state and federal levels
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HeinOnline Academic
HeinOnline Academic is a full-text research collection offering U.S. federal publications such as the U.S. Code, Federal Register, treaties and agreements, U.S. and state appellate court opinions, federal legislative histories, presidential documents; a collection of legal classics; and constitutions of the world
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Supreme Court of the United States1999-present
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Supreme Court Opinions Archive1992-2000
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Supreme Court of the United States: Oral Arguments from NARAThe Supreme Court of the United States did not start recording oral arguments until the 1955 October term. Cases heard prior to that date can sometimes have a related transcript, but they were not captured consistently and do not exist for all cases. If they exist, pre-1955 transcripts can be found in Appellate Jurisdiction Case Files, 1792-2017 at the National Archives and Records Administration.
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United States Reports : Cases Adjudged in the Supreme Courtv.502 (1991) to present are available online
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U.S. Reports by Volume 1-570United States Reports is a series of bound case reporters that are the official reports of decisions for the United States Supreme Court. A citation to a United States Supreme Court decisions includes three elements that are needed to retrieve a case. For example, Chevron U.S.A., Inc. v. Natural Resources Defense Council, Inc., 467 U.S. 837 (1984). 467 indicates the volume in which the case is reported, U.S. indicates the abbreviation for U.S. Reports, 837 indicates the initial page number of the case, and 1984 indicates the year the case was decided.
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Oyez - Legal Information Institute (LII), Justia, and Chicago-Kent College of LawOyez (pronounced OH-yay)—a free law project from Cornell’s Legal Information Institute (LII), Justia, and Chicago-Kent College of Law—is a multimedia archive devoted to making the Supreme Court of the United States accessible to everyone.
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Legal Information Institute - Supreme Court Collection by topicThe decisions in this collection have all been gathered into topical groups. (Many have been listed under several headings.) Clicking on any listed topic will retrieve all opinions classified under it. Instead of or in addition to using these topical groups you can search the entire collection for decisions using particular key words or phrases.
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CourtListenerA fully-searchable and accessible archive of court data including growing repositories of opinions, oral arguments, judges, and federal filings.
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FindLawFindLaw's Cases and Codes section contains resources and links for both state and federal laws. This includes resources pertaining to constitutions, statutes, cases and more.
