Judicial Branch Publications

Updated Jan. 7, 2008.
Prepared by Peggy Roebuck Jarrett for LIS 526: Government Publications.

Link to 2008 PowerPoint slideshow.

The judicial branch of the United States government is made of up the federal court system and several supporting agencies. The U.S. Supreme Court was established by the Constitution (U.S.Const. art. III, § 1). The lower federal courts were created by Congress.

Case Law

Case law is primary law created by judges in the course of resolving disputes. It is the written resolution of the issues, written by a judge or a panel of judges. It is not a jury verdict. Juries decide facts; judges decide law. The word “case” is often used interchangeably with “opinion” or “decision.”

Not all opinions are published. Opinions with precedential value are published in sets of books called reporters. Unpublished opinions can sometimes be found online.

Precedents are the legal principles or rules created by court opinions. Lower courts must apply these precedents in cases with similar issues and facts. This system allows similarly situated people to be treated the same.

The United States Reports is the only major reporter distributed through the Federal Depository Library Program. Opinions of lower federal courts are commercially published, but they are still considered primary law. State appellate opinions are also commercially published, although some states have official reporters.

Opinions & the Court System

A generic court system consists of:

trial courts,
intermediate appellate courts, and
the appellate court of last resort, which is often called the “Supreme Court.”

There are also specialized courts. On the state level, reported cases generally come from the appellate courts – not the trial courts. On the federal level, some trial court cases are reported. Remember that in a jury trial, there is nothing to “report” except a verdict.

Federal Court System. Other court directories and links include the Federal Court Locator and the Federal Courts Finder.

U.S. Supreme Court
U.S. Circuit Courts of Appeals
- Washington State is in the 9th Circuit.
U.S. District Courts
- Washington State has two: U.S. District Court for the Western District of Washington and the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Washington.
- Bankruptcy is handled by special district courts, such as the U.S. Bankruptcy Court, Western District of Washington.
Special matters
- U.S. Court of Federal Claims handles claims against the federal government.
- Court of International Trade deals with international trade and customs.
- U.S. Tax Court is an independent judicial body.
- U.S. Court of Appeals for the Armed Forces.
- U.S. Court of Appeals for Veterans Claims

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How To Find Cases

There are several ways to find cases.

Use Free Internet Resources

Start with Internet Legal Resources.
For Washington State Supreme Court opinions from 1854 and Court of Appeals opinions from 1969, use LegalWA.org.
For other state cases and U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals cases from the past five years, use lexisONE. The site is free, but registration is required.
For U.S. Supreme Court cases, use one or more of the following sources (coverage varies):
For U.S. Circuit Courts of Appeals cases, try the following:
- Official court websites. Use a directory such as the Federal Courts Finder.
- Findlaw
- lexisONE (last five years only)
For U.S. District Court cases, free choices are limited.

Use LexisNexis Academic (UW Restricted)

Available to UW faculty, students, and staff and to other users visiting the Gallagher Law Library or one of the UW libraries. Complete coverage of federal and state case law. Includes recent opinions.

Visit the Gallagher Law Library

Use an Annotated Code
If you are researching a federal or state statute, there may be case law interpreting it. The Law Library has annotated statutes for all 50 states and the federal government. The federal statutes are in two sets: United States Code Annotated (USCA) and United States Code Service (USCS). The Washington State statutes are in the Revised Code of Washington Annotated (RCWA) and the Annotated Revised Code of Washington (ARCW). All current statutes are located in the Reference Area. The ARCW and USCS are also available on LexisNexis Academic.

Use KeyCite or Shepard's
KeyCite and Shepard's are commercial web-based case law citation services. If you have a specific case citation, you can identify later court decisions that refer to or mention it. Both services can be used to determine if a specific case has been affirmed, overruled, or modified by a later court decision. The Law Library has a public subscription to KeyCite; users must visit the Law Library to gain access to this service. Shepard's is available on LexisNexis Academic.

Use a Digest
A digest is a print finding tool that indexes and abstracts reported cases. See the Gallagher guide on Reporters & Digests.

Use Secondary Sources
Secondary sources give the framework of the law, introduce the topic, offer expert analysis, and provide references to primary authority (cases, statutes, regulations). Books, law review articles, legal encyclopedias, and attorney practice materials are examples of secondary sources. More information can be found in the Gallagher guide on Secondary Sources. For a list of online sources available to UW faculty, students, and staff and users visiting the Law Library, see the Legal Databases & Indexes page.

Find the Case
Once you have a citation to a case, you can retrieve a copy of the case in print or online. The Gallagher guide on Reporters & Digests identifies the major reporters held by the Gallagher Law Library. LexisNexis Academic contains the full text of federal and state cases, as well as cases from selected foreign countries.

Google is not a good place to look for caselaw!

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Court Briefs

Briefs are written arguments submitted by the parties to an appellate level court. Briefs are designed to be persuasive; they contain legal arguments, analysis, and reference to primary and secondary sources. See the Gallagher guide on Briefs & Oral Arguments for sources available in Law Library and on the Internet.

Public Access to Court Electronic Records (PACER)

PACER is a fee-based electronic public access service for case and docket information from Federal appellate, district, and bankruptcy courts. For more information on content, cost, and registration procedures, go to the PACER Service Center. A 2-year pilot program offering free public access to PACER via libraries started in late 2007. No libraries in Washington State were chosen for the program.

Judicial Branch Business

Administrative Office of the United States Courts
Handles nonjudicial administrative business. Maintains workload statistics. Publications and workload statistics can be found under the Library link.

Federal Judicial Center
Provides policy research and continuing education.

Judicial Conference of the United States Courts
Serves as the governing and policy-making body for the administration of the federal judiciary.

United States Sentencing Commission
Develops guidelines and policies regarding sentencing in federal courts.

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Administrative Agency Decisions

Most administrative agencies have a quasi-judicial function. They decide (adjudicate) individual cases arising from the application of their rules and regulations. Some agency decisions are distributed through the Federal Depository Library Program.

Federal Administrative Decisions & Other Actions
Links to a wide variety of resources for agency decisions on the web. Arranged by agency or subject.

GPO Access
Contains just a few administrative decisions.

Washington State Administrative Decisions and Guidance Documents
Listed on Gallagher's Internet Legal Resources page.

Legal Resources on the Internet

The Internet Legal Resources page lists sites that provide legal information and materials (including laws, bills, court opinions, and related documents) and/or links to legal material. Only the most important Washington State and U.S. sites have been selected. Includes links to legal meta-indexes and general search engines.

Law Library Hours, Services & Research Guides

The Law Library is open to the public. See the Hours page for the schedule.

General information about services can be found on the Law Library’s homepage. The Law Library Reference Office phone number is (206) 543-6794. The Reference librarians accept questions sent via email.

The United States Government Publications page describes depository services and links to several legal research guides. A complete list of Gallagher's Legal Research Guides is available. Specific guides of interest include:

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