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U.S. Supreme Court Research

Find information about the Court, its justices and its cases. Get opinions, briefs, argument transcripts, and the latest news.

Profiles of U.S. Supreme Court Justices - Web Sites

These are a couple of good web sources for profiles.

Profiles of U.S. Supreme Court Justices - Books

These books have profiles — sometimes very detailed profiles — of both past and present U.S. Supreme Court Justices.

Finding Books About Justices Using Ignacio

To find full-length biographies of Supreme Court Justices, use this form to search Ignacio, the USF libraries' catalog.

Use a "Subject" search, and enter the justice's name, last name first, as in this example:

Rehnquist, William

Finding Articles About Justices

An effective and efficient way to find articles about justices (as opposed to articles that merely mention justices) is to use Index to Legal Periodicals. For more on finding articles, see the Zief Library's Finding Articles research guide.

Index to Legal Periodicals Search Tips

To find articles about a justice, use the Advanced Search option, enter the justice's name in the top search text box, and select "SU Subject Terms" from the adjacent pull-down menu. If using both first and last name, put the last name first, as in these examples:

white, edward
white, byron

For articles written before 1908, search Index to Legal Periodicals in print (K 33 .I54 Law Reference). Look for the justice's name under the subject heading "Biography: individual."

Finding Nomination Hearing Transcripts

HeinOnline's History of Supreme Court Nominations library is the best place to start when you want to see a justice's nomination hearing transcripts (and related information). The government's free FDSys source is a good alternative for transcripts of more recent hearings.

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