FEDERAL GOVERNMENT RESOURCES
Judicial Branch
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INDIVIDUAL FEDERAL COURTS
Bankruptcy Courts |
Circuit Courts |
Claims Court |
District Courts |
Supreme Court
US Court of International Trade
RELATED COURT MATTERS
Attorney General |
Famous Trials |
Grand Jury |
Independent Counsel |
Military Tribunals
RELATED WEB PAGES
Laws and Regulations |
Legal Periodicals
Last updated on April 22,
2008
ALL FEDERAL COURTS
- Federal Judicial Center
- Describes the role of the courts and provides educational resources for classes
- Database of federal judges includes biographies as well as those impeached and judicial milestones
- History of the
Federal
Judiciary
- Biographies of Supreme, Circuit and District court judges since 1789
- Searchable by name, ethnicity, appointing president and his party,
sex, court type, and date
- List of firsts includes first female judge, first Hispanic judge
- Judges removed by impeachment
- Brief history and a timeline of laws regarding the court system
- Federal Judges Biographical Database (FJC)
- Biographies of all federal judges at all levels beginning 1789
- Browsable by last name
- Searchable by nominating President, gender, race, termination date and reason, court type
- Separate list of judicial impeachments
- Supreme
Court Justices (Cornell)
- Pictures and biographies of current members of the court
- Supreme Court
Justices of the Last Hundred Years (UMich)
- Spreadsheet showing presidents since Teddy Roosevelt, their years in
office, and the names of their appointments to the Supreme Court
- Justices are also identified by their status (chief/associate) and
the years they held office
All Cases
- Academic Universe/LEXIS
(UMich Only)
- Full text of Supreme, Circuit and District Court opinions as well as
tax, commerce, and military courts
- Full text of law reviews
- Can search by case name; keyword in text or citation; type of court, and date
- Sample Search
Legal Research/Federal Case Law/District Courts
affirmative action w/10 (college or univ!)
2/1/92 to 5/31/98
- Laws Online
- Directories
- U.S. and State executive, legislative and judicial branch officers
- Includes names, contact information and web links
- Web links to federal and state court
decisions
- Meta-Index for U.S. Legal
Research
- Boolean searching for Supreme Court
decisions as well as all of the Federal circuit courts
- Similar searching for additional legal
resources
- PACER
- Fee-based system providing public access to court records, including participants, submissions, and decisions
- PACER is available at the University of Michigan Law Library
Individual Subjects
- American Civil
Liberties Union
- Extensive review of civil liberty developments and court cases in the
United States from an ACLU perspective
- Includes women, disabilities, immigration, privacy, death penalty
- Internet Library of
Law and Court Decisions
- Federal and state court decisions on Internet topics
- Includes clip-art, copyright, deomain name, e-mail privacy, spamming,
etc.
- Judicial Business
of the United States Courts
- Annual report including the caseloads of the courts, length of the
litigation, and juries
- TracFed
(some files UMich Only)
- Search number of prosecutions and convictions by federal court,
judge, or agency
- Track actions of U.S. attorneys by offense and district as well as
IRS audits
- Salaries of federal judges, attorneys and U.S. officials earning
over $100,000
- Wiretap
Report (Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts)
- Annual list of states which allow wiretapping and a citation to
their statutes
- Total number of wiretaps by state and county
- Wiretaps by county for alleged crime
- Wiretaps resulting in prosecution
- Black's Law Dictionary
- Easy to understand definitions of legal terms
- Doc. Cen. KF 156 .B531 1996
- Jurist Legal Dictionary
- Brief browsable legal definitions (e.g. rejoinder, remand, stare decisis)
- Law.Com Dictionary
- Search the dictionary by the legal term or by the definition
- Writes guidelines for federal judges when sentencing for a federal crime (e.g. drug trafficking)
- Publishes statistical summaries of the sentences imposed by the district courts
INDIVIDUAL FEDERAL COURTS
Directories
Decisions
- Academic Universe (UMich Only)
- Bankruptcy court decisions are searchable via keyword under Legal Research/Federal Case Law/Bankruptcy Courts
- Bankruptcy Court Decisions
- Bankruptcy courts do not generally post opinions on their web sites
- Most provide court records through the PACER service,
available at the U-M Law Library
Directories
- Hear cases on appeal from the District trial courts
- Circuit and
District Courts
- Court locations and web sites are listed by U.S. regions
Biographies
- Federal Judges Biographical Database (FJC)
- Biographies of all federal judges at all levels beginning 1789
- Browsable by last name
- Searchable by nominating President, gender, race, termination date and reason, court type
- Separate list of judicial impeachments
Decisions
- Academic Universe (UMich Only)
- Appeals court decisions are searchable via keyword under Legal Research/Federal Case Law/Court of Appeals
- Circuit and
District Courts
- Court locations and web sites are listed by U.S. regions
- Many of the courts have current decisions on their web sites
- Meta-Index for U.S. Legal
Research
- Boolean searching for Supreme Court
decisions as well as all of the Federal circuit courts
- Similar searching for additional legal
resources
Directories
Biographies
- Federal Judges Biographical Database (FJC)
- Biographies of all federal judges at all levels beginning 1789
- Browsable by last name
- Searchable by nominating President, gender, race, termination date and reason, court type
- Separate list of judicial impeachments
Decisions
Directories
- Handles larger civil cases on appeal from the Circuit Courts, cases in which states have ruled on federal laws, and cases involving diplomats
- Supreme Court, 2000+
(Official Web Site)
- Description of the court, calendars, bar admissions and court rules
- Most documents in pdf format only
- Opinions and oral arguments since 2000
Biographies
- Federal Judges Biographical Database (FJC)
- Biographies of all federal judges at all levels beginning 1789
- Browsable by last name
- Searchable by nominating President, gender, race, termination date and reason, court type
- Separate list of judicial impeachments
Decisions
- Academic Universe, 1789+ (UMich Only)
- Found under Legal research/Federal case law section
- Search opinion by keyword, date, plaintiff, defendant, justice writing opinion
- Provides full text and commentary
- Shepards, located in the same area, allows user to follow a case
by its official number to determine its current status and where it has been
subsequently cited
- United States Supreme Court Decisions: An Index to Excerpts, Reprints and Discussions, , 1798-1980 (Nancy Anderman Guenther)
- Index to selected cases by name and subject
- Gives citation to decision in United States Reports
- Provides a list of major journal articles discussing the case
- Paper copy only: Documents Center - Ref. KF 101.6 .G831)
- Supreme Court
Decisions, 1893+ via FindLaw
- Decisions searchable by citation, title, and full text
- Also browsable by year or volume number though once identified the
cases still require searching
- Full text of opinions include hypertext links to footnotes and
related cases
- Supreme Court
Decisions, 1937-75 via FEDWORLD
- Supreme Court
Decisions, 1990+ via Cornell
- Decisions, 1990 to present, indexed by subject, keyword, and party
- Updated daily when the Supreme Court is in
session
- Selected decisions beginning 1947, such as
Brown v. Board of Education and Roe v. Wade
- Supreme Court, 2000+
(Official Web Site)
- Description of the court, calendars, bar admissions and court rules
- Most documents in pdf format only
- Opinions and oral arguments since 2000
Oral Arguments
- Oyez! Oyez!
Oyez!
(Northwestern University)
- Oral arguments of over 100 Supreme Court cases, including Roe v. Wade
and the 2000 Presidential election
- Transmitted via Real Audio
- Supreme Court Briefs
- U.S. Supreme Court Records and Briefs
- Law Library has 1832-1860: FILM S 107 and 1897+: Micro-10 S1
- Index in paper, 1897-1983 in Law: Microfrm Room Books U581 S95 R31
- Landmark Briefs and Arguments of the Supreme Court
- Law Library has 1793- as SELECTED CASES IN CONSTITUTIONAL LAW
- Graduate Library has 1976- as KF 101.8 .K871
- Supreme Court,
2000+
(Official Web Site)
- Description of the court, calendars, bar admissions and court rules
- Most documents in pdf format only
- Opinions and oral arguments since 2000
Analysis
- CQ
Supreme Court Collection (UMich Only)
- Brief analysis of cases, background readings, and links to the most
important related cases
- Sorts information for use by non-lawyers
- Covers selected cases through 1968 and all decisions since
1969
- Court hears money claims made against the federal government, including tax refund claims
- U.S. Court of Claims
- Web site carries published decisions since 2000
- Also includes a history of the court, court rules, and filing forms
- Court hears cases involving amounts owed on federal taxes.
- U.S. Tax Court
- Opinions and judgements since 1995 searchable by judge, party and docket number
- Academic Universe (UMich Only)
- Decisions since 1924 found under Legal research/Federal case law/U.S. Tax Court
RELATED COURT MATTERS
- Department of
Justice
- Web site includes annual reports of the Attorney General, opinions
of the Office of Legal Counsel, and briefs of the Solicitor
General
- Academic
Universe (UMich Only)
- Attorney general opinions, 1791 to present, are available under
Legal Research/Federal Regulations/U.S. Attorney
General
- Court TV
- Trials section has summaries,
briefs, testimonies, and opinions on high-profile trials
- Includes Supreme Court topics,
international topics (war crimes tribunals), and crimes handled by
local courts (Menendez Brothers, O.J. Simpson)
- Opinions on legal issues which have not yet come to
trial
- Famous
American Trials (Linder/UMo-Kansas City)
- Excerpted trial transcripts, speeches, and points of law from famous
trials
- Leopold and Loeb, Scopes Monkey, Rosenbergs, Amistad, Bill Haywood,
Salem Witchcraft, My Lai Courts Martial, Scottsboro, Dakota Conflict,
Mississippi Burning, Chicago Seven, and Johnson Impeachment
- Links to other American trials include Aaron Burr, John Brown,
Lincoln Assassination, Lizzie Borden, Sacco-Vanetti, Lindbergh, Alger
Hiss, Charles Manson, Patty Hearst, John Hinckley, Rodney King, and O.J.
Simpson
- Among the international trials: Jesus, Joan of Arc, Martin Luther,
Gandhi, Adolph Eichman, Nelson Mandela
- Description of the grand jury system at the federal and state levels
- Size, powers, term, functions, procedures
- Independent counsels are arms of the Executive Branch rather than the
Judiciary
- They determine whether the federal government has evidence to
prosecute a case
- Independent Counsel
Reports (Starr/Ray)
- Series of reports on President Clinton's involvement with the Madison
Guaranty Savings and Loan (e.g. Whitewater)
- Starr's investigation led to an alleged Presidential coverage on an
affair with Monica Lewinsky
- Reports also include findings in the case of Bruce Babbitt, Bernard
Nussbaum, Anthony Marceca
- Reports in pdf format
- Panel covers consumer lawsuits, airline crashes, etc.
- Web site has lists of pending litigation but no further information
- Military Tribunals (FINDLAW)
- President Bush's order on military commissions, November 2001
- Defense Department guidelines beginning 2003
- Opinions from the International Commission of Jurists
- Analysis and commentary
Grace York, Coordinator, Documents Center
The University of Michigan Library
Graphics by Sherry Piontek and Barbara Perles
http://www.lib.umich.edu/govdocs/fedjudi.html
Since February 25, 1996 this page has been accessed 
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Description of
Court System