290 likes | 394 Views
United States Circuit Courts of Appeals. Decisions from all U.S. Circuit Courts of Appeals between 1789-1879 are published in the print resource, Federal Cases.
E N D
United States Circuit Courts of Appeals • Decisions from all U.S. Circuit Courts of Appeals between 1789-1879 are published in the print resource, Federal Cases. • From 1879 to the present, decisions from the Circuit Courts are published in the Federal Reporter (F., F.2d, F.3d.) series, part of the West National Reporter series. • These decisions are also published in fee electronic resources such as Westlaw (CTA-11) and Lexis (Federal Legal US Library).
4th Circuit Court of Appeals • Decisions from 1996 onwards can be found at the 4th Circuit Court of Appeals site at http://pacer.ca4.uscourts.gov/opinions/opinion.htm • Opinions can be searched by: • keyword; • docket number of case; • party names in the case; or • date decision is posted.
U.S. Courts • The U.S. Courts site at http://www.uscourts.gov/ also provides hyper text links to the official web sites of federal courts located within a state or circuit. • Access to the hyper text links is via a map. • Directions to the court as well as links to the court’s official web site are provided as well.
United States District Courts • Published alongside decisions from the U.S. Circuit Courts of Appeals between 1789-1879, opinions of U.S. District Courts are also published in the print resource, Federal Cases. • Between 1879 – 1932, decisions from U.S. District Courts were also published with Circuit Court opinions in the Federal Reporter (F., F.2d, F.3d) series, part of West’s National Reporter Series.
United States District Courts • In 1932, publication of opinions from the U.S. District Courts began in the Federal Supplement (F. Supp., F. Supp. 2d) series, again part of the National Reporter series. • These opinions are also published in fee electronic databases such as Westlaw (DCT) or Lexis (General Federal Legal US Library.)
U.S. District Courts • Free access to the decisions of U.S. District Courts is not as plentiful as is access to the U.S. Supreme Court’s decisions or the Circuit Courts' decisions. • Again, the US Courts site, at http://www.uscourts.gov , provides free access to available federal district court sites. • Decisions from federal district courts can also be accessed via Lexis and Westlaw.