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Locating U.S. Supreme Court Dockets, Orders, Oral Argument Transcripts, Opinions and Briefs

Where can I find general information on the U.S. Supreme Court?

Locating Supreme Court materials other than opinions and briefs can be very difficult.  Dockets, orders, and oral argument transcripts are not as widely archived as more in-demand material, and thus several different sources must often be consulted before the desired document is found.

Listed below are a number of sources, mostly electronic, that archive the more obscure Supreme Court documents.  Unless otherwise noted, all sites listed in this Guide are free.  Be aware that with these materials, it is often impossible to find documents older than a few years; occasionally fee-based services archive older documents, but more often they are simply unavailable.

General guide to materials: LLRX's Web Guide to U.S. Supreme Court Research gives information on how to find a wide variety of documents relating to Supreme Court cases.  Both free and fee-based services are covered.

Comprehensive resource centers:

  • Findlaw's Supreme Court Center contains links to briefs, orders, oral argument transcripts, and court dockets from October 1999-present.  A database of Supreme Court decisions since 1893 is also available. 
  • SCOTUSblog offers an enormous variety of Court-related resources, including opinions, petitions, orders, briefs, dockets, current news, a calendar, and Court statistics.