Supreme Court Reporter in the United States

Record of cases decided by the U.S. Supreme Court. The Supreme Court Reporter is a privately produced series published by West Publishing Company of St. Paul, Minnesota. The series provides summaries of case fact situations and the full text of all opinions issued. West also uses a “key” system of reference numbers through which topics and subtopics are classified. This facilitates finding related materials in other sources. The text of decisions is published on a twice-a-month basis. These materials are subsequently released in hardbound volumes at the conclusion of a Court term. Cases may be located by a citation that refers to volume and page. The Supreme Court Reporter citation for Miranda v. Arizona is 86 S. Ct. 1602 (1966). This means the Miranda case was decided in 1966 and can be found on page 1602 of volume 86 of the Supreme Court Reporter.

See Also

United States Reports (Judicial Effects and Policies) United States Supreme Court Reports (Judicial Effects and Policies)

Analysis and Relevance

The Supreme Court Reporter is an authoritative record of Supreme Court decisions. Unlike the United States Reports, which is published by the federal government, the Supreme Court Reporter is produced by a private commercial publisher. This series is linked by the “key” system to the American Digest System, which is an extensive collection of case summaries. The material contained in the Supreme Court Reporter is valuable in developing an understanding of American legal thought and appellate court decision making. The series makes this material readily available to the legal and academic communities as well as the general public.

Notes and References

1. Definition of Supreme Court Reporter from the American Law Dictionary, 1991, California