United States Supreme Court Resources

The United States Supreme Court

The Supreme Court must exercise discretion in deciding which cases to hear, since more than 10,000 civil and criminal cases are filed in the Supreme Court each year from various State and Federal courts. Ultimately, plenary review, with oral arguments by attorneys, is granted in about 100 cases per term. Formal written opinions are delivered in 80 to 90 cases. The Supreme Court also has “original jurisdiction” in a very small number of cases arising out of disputes between States or between States and the Federal Government. When the Supreme Court rules on a constitutional issue, that judgment is virtually final; its decisions are only rarely altered by constitutional amendment or by a new ruling of the Court.

Landmark Supreme Court Cases

A landmark decision is the outcome of a legal case that establishes a precedent that either substantially changes the interpretation of the law or that establishes new case law on a particular issue. Certain cases within this category are widely known in legal studies and may be reviewed by the general public, students, and academics.

Here are some specific landmark Supreme Court topics and cases along with the case citation number for the Supreme Court’s written opinion.

•Abortion – Roe v. Wade, 410 U.S. 113
•Right to die – Cruzan v. Dir., Mo. Dep’t of Health, 497 U.S. 261
•Freedom from unreasonable search and seizure – Mapp v. Ohio, 367 U.S. 643
•Right to an attorney – Miranda v. Arizona, 384 U.S. 436
•Capital punishment – Furman v. Georgia, 408 U.S. 238
•Freedom of speech and of the press – Texas v. Johnson, 491 U.S. 397
•Freedom of religion – Church of Lukumi Babalu Aye v. City of Hialeah, 508 U.S. 520
•Affirmative action – Grutter v. Bollinger, 539 U.S. 306

United States Supreme Court and the Federal Courts

In the words of the Administrative Office of the United States Courts: The U.S. Supreme Court consists of the Chief Justice of the United States and eight associate justices. At its discretion, and within certain guidelines established by Congress, the Supreme Court hears a small percentage of the cases it is asked to decide each year. Supreme Court cases are usually selected either because the lower courts have differed, or “split,” on a legal issue or they involve important questions about the Constitution or federal law.

Internet Resources

http://library.wustl.edu/vlib/dredscott/
In 1846, Dred Scott and his wife Harriet filed suit for their freedom in the St. Louis Circuit Court. This suit began an eleven-year legal fight that ended in the U.S. Supreme Court, which issued a landmark decision declaring that Scott remain a slave. This decision contributed to rising tensions between the free and slave states just before the American Civil War. The records displayed in this exhibit document the Scotts’ early struggle to gain their freedom through litigation and are the only extant records of this significant case as it was heard in the St.Louis Circuit Court.

http://www.nytimes.com/ref/national/INDEX-CRIME.html

http://www.findlaw.com/casecode/supreme.html
FindLaw’s searchable database of the Supreme Court decisions since 1893 (U.S. Supreme Court Decisions: US Reports 150-, 1893-). Browsable by year and US Reports volume number and searchable by citation, case title and full text. This is a free service that will remain free.

http://oyez.nwu.edu/
The OYEZ Project contains many hundreds of hours of audio materials delivered through a free player available from Progressive Networks. Simply download and install the Real Player for your operating system. Of course, you will need a sound capable computer and speakers. The Project also contains dozens of panoramic images of the Supreme Court Building. To view these images in the Tour section, you will need to download and install QuickTime (for Windows or for MacOS). QuickTime is available from Apple Computer.

http://www.fedworld.gov/supcourt/
The U.S. Air Force has agreed to release a historic file of Supreme Court decisions from its FLITE (“Federal Legal Information Through Electronics”) system. The file consists of over 7,000 Supreme Court opinions dating from 1937 through 1975, from volumes 300 through 422 of U.S. Reports.

http://supct.law.cornell.edu/supct/
The LII collection of historic decisions of the US Supreme Court contains over 600 of the court’s most important decisions through the whole period of its existence. The decisions can be accessed by party name, by topic, and by opinion author.

http://supct.law.cornell.edu/supct/
Supreme Court Classic Cases

http://www.jmu.edu/madison/marbury/index.htm
Marbury vs. Madison

http://ccwf.cc.utexas.edu/~russell/seminar/sweatt/sweattindex.html
Sweatt v. Painter documents.

http://www.nps.gov/brvb/
On October 26, 1992, Congress passed Public Law 102-525, establishing Brown v. Board of Education National Historic Site to commemorate the landmark Supreme Court decision aimed at ending segregation in public schools. On May 17, 1954, the Supreme Court unanimously declared that “separate educational facilities are inherently “unequal” and, as such, violate the 14th Amendment to the United States Constitution, which guarantees all citizens “equal protection of the laws.” The site is located at Monroe Elementary School in Topeka, Kansas. Monroe was the segregated school attended by the lead plaintiff’s daughter, Linda Brown, when Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka was initially filed in 1951.

http://www.supremecourthistory.org/
The Supreme Court Historical Society.