United States Supreme Court Reports
The United States Supreme Court Reports (Lawyers' Edition): Record of decisions rendered by the United States Supreme Court (Judicial Effects and Policies).
United States Supreme Court Reports, also known as the Lawyers' Edition, is published by Lawyers Cooperative Publishing Company of Rochester, New York. The series provides the full text of all opinions issued by the Supreme Court. In addition, the editors summarize the fact situations of each case and how each case was decided prior to obtaining review by the Supreme Court. The Lawyers' Edition also summarizes the arguments used by the justices in the opinions that are released. Bound volumes are produced at the end of each Court term, but opinions are released throughout the term in the form of paperbound “Advance Sheets.” Cases may be located in these volumes by a citation number that references volume and page. The Lawyers' Edition citation for Brown v. Board of Education 1 is 98 L. Ed. 873 (1954). This means that Brown I was decided in 1954 and can be found on page 873 of volume 98. The series reached volume 100 in 1956, and the publishers chose to commence a second series starting again at volume 1 rather than continuing with volume 101. The citations thus became L. Ed. 2d preceded by a volume number and followed by a page number, e.g., Regents of the University of California v. Bakke, 57 L. Ed. 2d 750 (1978). In 1988, the volumes reached 100 in the second series. This time, the numbering continued beyond 100 rather than starting a third series, e.g., Webster v. Reproductive Health Services, 106 L. Ed. 2d 410 (1989).
See Also
Supreme Court Reporter (U.S.) United States Reports (U.S.).
Analysis and Relevance
United States Supreme Court Reports is an authoritative record of Supreme Court decisions. Unlike United States Reports, which is published by the federal government, United States Supreme Court Reports, like the Supreme Court Reporter, is distributed by a private commercial publisher. The difference between these two records largely comes from the headnotes in each, which link rulings of the Supreme Court to other materials available from the publisher. The material contained in United States Supreme Court Reporter contributes to a better understanding of the appellate court decision-making process as well as the arguments advanced in the particular cases. The series enables dissemination of this material to the public generally, as well as to the legal and academic communities.
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