Federal Law Research

Table of Contents

Introduction to Federal Law Research
Features of Cases in Lexis Nexis Academic
Searching for Supreme Court Cases
Searching for Court of Appeals Cases
Searching for District Court Cases
Shepardizing Cases

Introduction to Federal Law Research

Legal research is a complicated process. That's why Supreme Court judges have clerks to do the research for them! This page introduces you to the basics of researching federal law. There is a glossary of legal terms at http://www.uscourts.gov/library/glossary.html that will help you understand words on this page and in the cases.

To get the full picture, I highly recommend reading Legal Research FAQ, especially Part I at http://www.faqs.org/faqs/law/research/part1/.

For even more detail, visit the Government Documents Department's Tutorials on Finding the Law webpage at http://www.library.unt.edu/govinfo/tutorials-on-finding-the-law.

Features of Cases in Lexis Nexis Academic

The publisher of Lexis Nexis Academic provides you with a whole lot more than the text of a court decision. Some of the most useful features are:

• Case in Brief - a summary of the case in lay language; the link is usually below the Disposition of the case.
• Headnotes - these notes appear before the case text and highlight the important legal issues in the case. They link to the significant language in the text.
• Citation links - all citations in the opinion are hyperlinked to their cases.
  

Searching for Supreme Court Cases

You can search for the full-text of Supreme Court decisions in Lexis Nexis Academic
[ http://irservices.library.unt.edu/resource.cfm?ai_id=149]

Please follow these steps:

1. Select the Legal link at the top left of the opening screen
2. Select Federal & State Cases from the left panel
3. From the Sources drop-down menu, select U.S. Supreme Court Cases, L. Ed.
4. Leave the search type on Terms and Connectors
5. In the search box, type in NEPA and some keywords for the type of case you want to find, e.g. NEPA and harbour
6. If you get too many cases, you can further limit the search by date and keywords in sections of the case
7. You can print, email or save cases that you want to keep

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Searching for Circuit Courts of Appeals Cases

You can search for the full-text of Courts of Appeals decisions in Lexis Nexis Academic  [http://irservices.library.unt.edu/resource.cfm?ai_id=149]

Please follow these steps:

1. Select the Legal link at the top left of the opening screen
2. Select Federal & State Cases from the left panel
3. From the Sources drop-down menu, select  U.S. Courts of Appeals Cases.
4. Leave the search type on Terms and Connectors
5. In the search box, type in NEPA and some keywords for the type of case you want to find, e.g. NEPA and harbour, then Search
   
6. If you get too many cases, you can further limit the search by date and keywords in sections of the case. The more limits you can put on the better when searching for these cases.
   
7. You can print, email or save cases that you want to keep

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Searching for District Court Cases

You can search for the full-text of District Court decisions in Lexis Nexis Academic  [http://irservices.library.unt.edu/resource.cfm?ai_id=149]

Please follow these steps:

1. Select the Legal link at the top left of the opening screen
2. Select Federal & State Cases from the left panel
3. From the Sources drop-down menu, select U.S. District Court Cases
4. Leave the search type on Terms and Connectors
5. In the search box, type in NEPA and some keywords for the type of case you want to find, e.g. NEPA and harbour, then Search
   
6. If you get too many cases, you can further limit the search by date and keywords in sections of the case. The more limits you can put on the better when searching for these cases.
   
7. You can print, email or save cases that you want to keep.

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Shepardizing Cases

Shepardizing is the process of checking what action has been taken on a case since it was decided. Lawyers use Shepards Citations to make sure a case is still "good law"; they are checking to see whether the case has been upheld, reversed or reversed in part since it was decided.

Even Supreme Court cases have to be Shepardized because the Court may modify the original decision in a later case.

You can Shepardize your cases using Lexis Nexis Academic [http://irservices.library.unt.edu/resource.cfm?ai_id=149] by following these steps:

1. Select the Legal link at the top left of the opening screen
2. Select Shepard's Citations from the left panel
3. Enter the short form citation of the case in question, e.g. 542 U.S. 55
   
4. You'll see the subsequent appellate history and citing cases, which are cases that have since cited the case.
5. Look at the Signals to see whether the decision has been upheld or questioned in subsequent decisions; the Signal Key is at the bottom of the document
6. Shepard's Citations can be printed, emailed or saved

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