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Law -- Federal Court Opinion

 

Contact

Helen Sheehy
Title: Head Social Sciences Library


Subject Specialist:
Law, Political Science, International Affairs
814-863-1347
e-mail: hms2@psu.edu

Social Sciences Library

 

Databases

Note: [Penn State Libraries] indicates a resource available to researchers with a Penn State Access Account:

  • LexisNexis Academic [Penn State Libraries]
    Full coverage from the inception of the U.S. Supreme Court, Courts of Appeals, District Courts, Customs and Patent Appeals, Court of International Trade, Court of Veteran Appeals, Tax Courts, Bankruptcy Courts, Customs Courts, Commerce Courts, and Military Courts.

    • Use the Look up a Case menu to search for cases by citation, parties, or topic

    • Choose US Legal from the left-hand menu for more court opinion search options

    • Links for Legal Citation formats help and Legal topics search help appear at the bottom of the Look up a Case menu

  • LoislawConnect [Penn State Libraries]
    Full coverage of the U.S. Supreme Court, all Federal Circuit Courts, U.S. District Courts opinions, Bankruptcy Court opinions, and Administrative Decisions under Immigration and Nationality Laws of the United States. There are 2 ways to begin your search in the Primary Law menu in LoislawConnect:

    • choose Case Law under the Type of Law category

    • choose Federal under the Jurisdiction category

U.S. Supreme Court

U.S. Circuit Courts of Appeal

U.S. Circuit Courts of Appeal
Circuit FindLaw link States, Territories covered
1st Circuit Findlaw Maine, New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Puerto Rico
2nd Circuit Findlaw Connecticut, New York, Vermont
3rd Circuit Findlaw Delaware, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, U.S. Virgin Islands
4th Circuit Findlaw Maryland, Virginia, West Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina
5th Circuit Findlaw Louisiana, Mississippi, Texas
6th Circuit Findlaw Michigan, Ohio, Kentucky, Tennessee
7th Circuit Findlaw Illinois, Indiana, Wisconsin
8th Circuit Findlaw North Dakota, South Dakota, Nebraska, Minnesota, Iowa, Missouri, Arkansas
9th Circuit Findlaw Washington, Oregon, Idaho, Montana, California, Nevada, Arizona, Alaska, Hawaii, Guam, Northern Mariana Islands
10th Circuit Findlaw Wyoming, Utah, Colorado, Kansas, Oklahoma
11th Circuit Findlaw Alabama, Georgia, Florida
D.C. Circuit Findlaw District of Columbia
Federal Circuit FindLaw nationwide jurisdiction in a variety of subject areas including international trade, government contracts, patents, and trademarks

Other Federal Courts

  • U.S. District Courts

  • U.S. Bankruptcy Courts

  • U.S. Tax Court

  • Court of Appeals for the Armed Forces
    Judicially independent, although it is located (for administrative purposes only) in the Department of Defense, "the Court exercises jurisdiction to review court-martial cases on direct appellate review, entertains and acts on petitions for extraordinary relief, writes appeal petitions (in which a Court of Criminal Appeals has acted on a petition for extraordinary relief), and petitions for review of decisions of the Courts of Criminal Appeals in cases in which the United States has exercised its right to appeal certain rulings of a military judge during the course of a court-martial trial. In such cases, further review by the Supreme Court of the United States on petition for certiorari is limited to those instances in which the United States Court of Appeals for the Armed Forces has granted relief.

  • United States Court of Appeals for Veterans Claims
    This Court can review final decisions of the Board of Veterans Appeals. Parties may appeal from a decision of the Court to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit and, thereafter, may seek review in the Supreme Court of the United States.

Federal Judicial Center

The Federal Judicial Center is the research and education agency of the federal judicial system. It was established by Congress in 1967 (28 U.S.C. §§ 620-629), on the recommendation of the Judicial Conference of the United States. The many specific statutory duties of the Center and its Board fall into a few broad categories:

  • conducting and promoting orientation and continuing education and training for federal judges, court employees, and others

  • developing recommendations about the operation and study of the federal courts

  • conducting and promoting research on federal judicial procedures, court operations, and history

Inside the Federal Courts
"One of the Federal Judicial Center's duties is to teach federal court employees about how the courts work, how they are organized, and how they fit into the U.S. system of government. We developed this site as an easy reference to help court employees understand aspects of the federal courts outside of their specific responsibilities. We put it on our public website because it may also help students, the media, and the public learn more about the federal courts."