First Amendment:Legal Sources

September 29th

What is a Case?

Case = decision = opinion = judgment Issued in writing by a court of law Resolves a controversy

How a Case Begins?

Lawsuit filed with a court In writing 98+ % of lawsuits filed settle out of court Very small percentage goes to trial

Trial Court

A judge presides Jury may be present

– Typical in criminal cases

Evidence introduced– Witnesses testify– Documents introduced

Many trial court decisions not published

Appellate Court

Judge presides, usually at least 3 Hears appeal from trial court No jury; judges and attorneys only No additional evidence or legal issues

presented Decisions frequently published, but not always Can overturn trial court or lower appellate court

decisions

U.S. Court System

U.S. District Courts – trial courts U.S. Circuit Courts of Appeal – intermediate

appellate courts U.S. Supreme Court

Case Reporters

U.S. District Courts– Federal Supplement (F. Supp., F. Supp. 2d)

U.S. Circuit Courts of Appeal– Federal Reporter (F., F.2d, F.3d)

U.S. Supreme Court Case Reporters

United States Reports (U.S.)– Published by U.S. government

United States Supreme Court Reports, Lawyers’ Edition (L.Ed., L.Ed.2d)– Published by LexisNexis

Supreme Court Reporter (S.Ct.)– Published by West

Case Citation Form

Gonzales v. Williams, 192 U.S. 1,

24 S.Ct. 177, 48 L.Ed. 317 (1904).

First number = volume of case reporter

Second number = page number of first page of decision

Anatomy of an Opinion

Caption– Names of parties– Court– Date of decision

Headnotes Syllabus by Court Reporter Opinion of the Court Concurring and Dissenting Opinions

How to Find a Specific Case

Citation – use Westlaw Campus Identify the jurisdiction Identify a party’s name (plaintiff or defendant) Identify a fact from the case and a relevant

legal concept; then run a search

Why Can’t I Find the Case?

Trial court decisions – small % published– State trial court decisions rarely published (except

New Jersey and Pennsylvania)

Case settled – no opinion Jury trial – jury verdict form only; not published Unpublished opinion

– Written opinion but judge decides not to publish; copy available at courthouse

US Supreme Court Briefs

Landmark Briefs and Arguments of the United States Supreme Court

Records and Briefs of the Supreme Court of the United States (microfiche)

LexisNexis Academic Westlaw Campus Findlaw Supreme Court Center

Case Digests

Organized by legal subject West key number Includes abstract of case and citation to case

reporter Multivolume descriptive word index

Federal Practice Digest Atlantic Digest

Electronic Legal Sources for Cases

LexisNexis Academic / Legal Research Westlaw Campus LexisNexis (commercial version) Findlaw

Verifying Law is Current

Shepard’s– Shepardizing– By LexisNexis

KeyCite– By Westlaw

Shepard’s and KeyCite as a Research Tool

Citations to all cases mentioning the principal case

Citations to law review articles and certain treatises that mention the principal case

Legal Research Guides

How to Find the Law Fundamentals of Legal Research Legal Information: How to Find It, How to Use

It Law Librarians’ Exchange

– www.llrx.com