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PSCI 3210: The Supreme Court
This class page is based on the research project required for Political Science 3210; however, it has basic research steps that are useful for any research you do. There are three parts to your project, the Theory Paper, the Case Paper and the Prediction paper. This page will walk you through the steps to use Campus Research (Westlaw) and LexisNexis, both of which you will need to complete your project. If you find you need more help, use the Ask Us services. Library reference staff members can be reached in person and through phone and email. You may also contact the library liaison for the Political Science Department, Julie Leuzinger.
LexisNexis Academic
LexisNexis Academic includes national and international news, business, and legal research documents, including financial statements, corporate profiles, as well as U.S. state and federal codes and statutes. (If you are off campus you will need to log in with your EUID and Password, if you need help with either one of these please visit UNT's Account Management System).
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.
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
Please follow these steps:
- Select the Legal link at the top left of the opening screen.
- Select Federal & State Cases from the left panel.
- From the Jurisdiction drop-down menu, select U.S. Supreme Court Cases.
- In the search box, (as an example) type in Scalia and select Judges from the drop down menu. In the search box below type in immigration and click Search. (If you get too many cases, you can further limit the search by date and keywords in sections of the case).
- Select a case and scroll to the last page to find Justice Scalia's opinion. This will give you a good indicator of how he might rule in a similar case.
- You can print, email or save cases that you want to keep.
Campus Research (Westlaw)
Providing full text access to news, business, and legal resources, Campus Research also provides access to West's legal citation research service, KeyCite, and the Texas Annotated Code. (If you are off campus you will need to log in with your EUID and Password, if you need help with either one of these please visit UNT's Account Management System).
Search for a Specific Type of Case and Justice
1. To get started, click the Law tab at the top left of the page. (You can also use this tab to clear out your research and get back to to main search page as well).
2. Under Shortcuts, select Content List.
3. From the Content List page, select Cases.
4. On the following page, select All Supreme Court Cases.
5. On the Advanced Search page, you can search a term such as "eminent domain" or select the Custom Digest link on the top right hand side of the page for a list of terms used by the database.
6. Add Scalia's name to the text field below "eminent domain" to find Justice Scalia's opinions on these types of cases.
Political Science Resources
Use the Political Science Subject Guide for subject specific resources.
The Law Subject Guide may also be useful for this course.
The Supreme Court of the United States has a website that you will find useful for this assignment.
The Supreme Court Database will also be useful for your assignment.
Find a Case on Given Topic
For additional tips on finding cases on a particular topic that may be useful for this assignment.
The Federal Court System
Learn more about the structure of the court system and how cases are recorded and cited here.
How to Read a Legal Citation
For pointers on reading legal citations and abbreviations.
Citing Legal Materials/Legal Style Manuals
For assistance in citing cases and court briefs.
WRITING HELP:
For Writing assistance please contact the writing lab. http://www.unt.edu/writinglab/
Library Instruction Survey
Please take a moment to fill out this survey so we can improve our services!
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