Research topics 

Some research questions may seem very specific, but the techniques used to seek the required information can be useful for students in many different fields of study. So if a student asks us:

How do I find data about decisions of the United States Supreme Court?

This sort of question may apply to students in the TU Faculties of Law, History, Political Science, Sociology, and others. Our reply:

Try The Legal Information Institute (LII).

As their website explains, they

are a small research, engineering, and editorial group housed at the Cornell Law School in Ithaca, NY. Our collaborators include publishers, legal scholars, computer scientists, government agencies, and other groups and individuals that promote open access to law, worldwide… The LII publishes electronic versions of core materials in numerous areas of the law, primarily on the Web. They range from the Constitution to the U.S. Code, from Supreme Court decisions to the Code of Federal Regulations as well as the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, Bankruptcy Procedure, and Criminal Procedure. We maintain this Internet site and its many resources, which include legal commentary and explanations contained in our WEX legal dictionary and encyclopedia, and the LII Supreme Court Bulletin, which provides analysis of cases that are about to be argued before the Supreme Court. Last year, those services were used by more than 32 million unique individuals in 246 countries and territories.

The open access content of LII goes beyond Supreme Court decisions. Among other reliable data is material about Federal Rules, State law resources, State statutes by topic, Uniform laws, World law, Supreme Court Bulletin, Introduction to Basic Legal Citation, Civics, Constitutional law, Intellectual Property, Corporations, Real Estate Law, Consumer Protection, Administrative Law, Legislation Courts and procedure, Business law. Criminal law, Family law, Employment law, Immigration Law, Landlord/Tenant, Personal Injury, Estate Planning, Money and Finances. The data about US Supreme Court cases is presented according to most recent decisions. There is also a search function for cases from 1990 to the present by topic, author, or parties involved. The site also has information about older cases.

The student may be looking for an alternative website, so may ask:

Is there any other website with the sort of information I might be able to use for my academic research project or thesis?

Our reply would be:

There is also the Oyez Project

The student may wonder:

What does oyez mean?

The answer:

It is an exclamation or call given by a court officer two or three times for people in a courtroom to be silent and pay attention before the court goes into session. This expression can be heard in many legal dramas on television.

As its website notes, the Oyez Project, housed at the Chicago-Kent College of Law, Chicago, Illinois, USA, has transcripts of Supreme Court cases as well as sound recordings of many of them:

The Oyez Project… leverages information technology to make materials related to the Supreme Court instantly accessible around the world. The website, which has tens of thousands of visitors each day, provides immediate access to nearly 10,000 hours of courtroom audio and is adding merits briefs and amici briefs to its already comprehensive database.

ISCOTUSnow is a comprehensive blog featuring scholarly discourse and explanatory videos on the latest Supreme Court news and decisions.

The Oyez Project’s goal is to become the authoritative source for information about the Supreme Court. At the same time, the Oyez Project continues to leverage new technology with the release of two apps:

ISCOTUSnow (free, available for iPhone, iPad, and Android devices) features recent Supreme Court oral arguments and opinion announcements, along with blog posts from ISCOTUSnow

PocketJustice ($0.99, available for iPhone, iPad, and Android devices) offers rich multimedia access to all Supreme Court decisions since 1955.

If the student wants to know:

Doesn’t the US Supreme Court have its own website?

Our reply would be:

Of course, there is a website, especially good on historical material. There are transcripts of hearing as well as audio recordings, as the website informs us:

• The audio recordings of all oral arguments heard by the Supreme Court of the United States are available to the public at the end of each argument week. The audio recordings are posted on Fridays after Conference.
• The public may either download the audio files or listen to the recordings on the Court’s website. The audio recordings are listed by case name, docket number, and the date of oral argument.
• The Court began audio recording oral arguments in 1955. The recordings are maintained at The National Archives and Records Administration. Prior to the 2010 Term, the recordings from one Term of Court were not available until the beginning of the next Term. The Archives will continue to serve as the official repository for the Court’s audio recordings.

(All images courtesy of Wikimedia Commons)