U.S. Government Resources: Judicial Branch

Administrative Office of the United States Courts
http://www.uscourts.gov/adminoff.html

Established in 1939, the Administrative Office is the administrative arm of the federal Judiciary devoted to serving the courts in fulfilling the federal judicial system's critical mission, which is providing justice to the citizens of this country. The agency provides service to the federal courts in three essential areas: administrative support, program management, and policy development.

Court Links
http://www.uscourts.gov/courtlinks/

The Court Links map of the U.S. Courts web site accesses the various Circuit Courts and also provides links to the state bankruptcy courts.

Court Rules
http://www.law.cornell.edu/wex/index.php/Court_rules

These documents undertake to pull together the broad array of primary law sources held by the LII servers and other Internet law sites around specific topics or problem areas. The pages also aim to provide some context for research in those primary materials by indicating the relative importance of Federal and state law, statutes, regulations and other sources on the particular topic.

Docket of U.S. Supreme Court
http://www.supremecourtus.gov/docket/docket.html

The automated docket system is the Court's case tracking system. It contains information about cases, both pending and decided. Search for cases by using a Supreme Court docket number, a lower court docket number, or a case name.

Federal Court Locator
http://www.law.vill.edu/library/researchandstudyguides/federalcourtlocator.asp

The Federal Court Locator is a service provided by the Villanova Internet Legal Research Compass. It is intended to give net citizens a means to access information related to the federal judiciary, including slip opinions. This information can be viewed on-line or it can be downloaded.

Federal Judicial Center
http://www.fjc.gov/

The Federal Judicial Center is the education and research agency for the federal courts. Congress created the FJC in 1967 to promote improvements in judicial administration in the courts of the United States. This site contains the results of Center research on federal court operations and procedures and court history, as well as selected educational materials produced for judges and court employees.

• Publications & Videos
  http://www.fjc.gov/library/fjc_catalog.nsf
  This online catalog lists most of the publications the Federal Judicial Center has produced since its creation in 1967, grouped by subject category. Older publications are not available online. The publications include reports of research and analysis done by or for the Center, as well as products of Center seminars and workshops conducted for various judicial branch personnel.

Federal Rules - Civil, Evidence, Appellate Procedure
http://www.uscourts.gov/rules/newrules4.html

This web site of the U.S. Courts provides information about the federal rules in effect for the various court procedures.

Fedworld
http://supcourt.ntis.gov/

Full text of Supreme Court decisions from 1937 to 1975.

Guide to Law Online
http://www.loc.gov/law/help/guide.html

The Guide to Law Online, prepared by the U.S. Law Library of Congress Public Services Division, is an annotated guide to sources of information on government and law available online. It includes selected links to useful and reliable sites for legal information.

House Committee on the Judiciary
http://judiciary.house.gov/

A standing Committee on the Judiciary was established by the House of Representatives on June 3, 1813 to consider matters relating to the administration of justice in Federal courts, administrative bodies, and law enforcement agencies.

Judges of the U.S. Courts - Biographical Information since 1789
http://www.fjc.gov/history/home.nsf

This database contains the service record and biographical information for all judges who have served on the U.S. District Courts, U.S. Circuit Courts, U.S. Courts of Appeals, and the Supreme Court since 1789.

PACER (Public Access to Court Electronic Records) Administrative Office of U.S. Courts
http://pacer.psc.uscourts.gov/lookup.html

Federal Appellate, District, and Bankruptcy courts (registration required).

Senate Committee on Judiciary
http://judiciary.senate.gov/

First authorized in 1816, the Senate Committee on Judiciary has one of the broadest jurisdictions in the Senate, ranging from criminal justice to antitrust and intellectual property law.

Supreme Court Decisions, 1937-1975
http://www.access.gpo.gov/su_docs/supcrt

This database, made available through GPO Access and is not an official version, may be used as a finding aid for various opinions of the Supreme Court.

U.S. Bankruptcy Courts
http://www.uscourts.gov/bankruptcycourts.html

Page information includes federal court fees, subpoena regulations, bankruptcy statistics, official forms, and "Bankruptcy Basics" pamphlet in PDF form.

U.S. Court of Appeals for the Armed Forces
http://www.armfor.uscourts.gov/

The Court, composed of five civilian judges appointed for 15-year terms, has worldwide appellate jurisdiction over active members of the armed forces and others subject to the Uniform Code of Military Justice.

U.S. Court of Appeals for Veterans Claims
http://www.vetapp.gov/

This web site provides information about the Court, Judges' biographies, court rules and procedures, a search database for decisions and opinions, and more.

U.S. Court of Federal Claims
http://www.uscfc.uscourts.gov/

The U.S. Court of Federal Claims retains original jurisdiction to hear money claims with the United States.

U.S. Court of International Trade
http://www.cit.uscourts.gov/

Formerly the United States Custems Court, the U.S. Court of International Trade has expanded all judicial functions relating to international trade disputes. The site provides Court and directory information, Case Management/Electronic Case Files, rules and forms, and more.

U.S. Court Rules
http://www.uscourts.gov/rules/approved.htm

As part of its Federal Rulemaking section, amendments prescribed by the Supreme Court and transmitted to Congress (effective 12/1/2000) are listed at this U.S. Courts' site.

U.S. Courts and the Federal Judiciary
http://www.uscourts.gov/

The purpose of this site is to function as a clearinghouse for information from and about the Judicial Branch of the U.S. Government. Access to the levels of courts, electronic filing, federal rulemaking, and much more are available from this web site.

U.S. Courts for the Ninth Circuit
http://www.ce9.uscourts.gov/

This website provides access to the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, the U.S. Supreme Court, and the sites of other circuit courts. “Frequently Asked Questions,” numerous articles, and a guide to “Understanding the U.S. Courts” provide useful tools for learning about the federal court system.

U.S. Courts of Appeals
http://www.uscourts.gov/courtsofappeals.html

Article provides a brief description of the organization and jurisdiction of the United States Courts of Appeals.

U.S. District Courts
http://www.uscourts.gov/districtcourts.html

Article provides a brief description about the organization and jurisdiction of the United States District Courts.

U.S. Federal Courts Finder
http://www.law.emory.edu/index.php?id=2997

Maintained by Emory University’s School of Law, this webpage provides a visual map of the circuit court distribution throughout the United States, Guam, and Puerto Rico.

U.S. Federal Government Agencies Directory
http://www.lib.lsu.edu/gov/fedgov.html

Louisiana State University has prepared a federal agency directory in complete alphabetical and hierarchical order, as well as other links to the sub-categories of the U.S. government.

U.S. Sentencing Commission
http://www.ussc.gov/

The Commission is an independent agency in the judicial branch of government. It is charged with the ongoing responsibilities of evaluating the effects of the sentencing guidelines on the criminal justice system, recommending to Congress appropriate modifications of substantive criminal law and sentencing procedures, and establishing a research and development program on sentencing issues.

U.S. Supreme Court
http://www.uscourts.gov/supremecourt.html

Article provides a brief description of the organization and jurisdiction of the United States Supreme Court. Additionally, the article contains links for those interested in learning more about the history of the Supreme Court and current issues.

U.S. Supreme Court (Cornell)
http://library.lawschool.cornell.edu/WhatWeHave/SpecialCollections/Supreme-Court.cfm

This site provides access to the calendar of oral arguments for this term, full-text of the most recent decisions, an archive of past decisions by topic, author, or party, a glossary of common legalese, the Supreme Court rules, and other useful resources.

U.S. Supreme Court (Official Site)
http://supremecourtus.gov/

The Supreme Court consists of the Chief Justice of the United States and such number of Associate Justices as may be fixed by Congress. The number of Associate Justices is currently fixed at eight. Power to nominate the Justices is vested in the President of the United States, and appointments are made with the advice and consent of the Senate. This web site provides information on the Court's jurisdiction and procedures, opinions, court rules, and more.

U.S. Supreme Court Monitor
http://www.law.com/jsp/scm/index.jsp

This website provides current news and commentary on the U.S. Supreme Court, a listing of recent cases in which certiorari is granted or pending, calendar of scheduled oral arguments, and access to recent and archived decisions. Requires free registration.

U.S. Supreme Court Multimedia Database (Oral Arguments)
http://www.hprtec.org/supremecourt/oyez.shtml

The purpose of the Oyez Project is to provide an archive of oral arguments and other information related to the United States Supreme Court, justices on the Court, and issued decisions.

U.S. Tax Court
http://www.ustaxcourt.gov/

The U.S. Tax Court, composed of 19 president-appointed members, is a Federal court of record established by Congress under Article I of the Constitution of the United States. Congress created the Tax Court to provide a judicial forum in which affected persons could dispute tax deficiencies determined by the Commissioner of Internal Revenue prior to payment of the disputed amounts. The web site offers an opinions search, docket inquiry, forms, and information on judges and rules.