Meet a Database: US Supreme Court Records and Briefs

U.S. Supreme Court Records and Briefs is a great tool for historical research on Supreme Court decisions. This database is from Gale and covers court records and briefs from 1832-1978. Note: the database doesn’t contain the case opinions, which are available many other places.

Under the “Basic Search” options users can search by date, docket number, or US Reports citation. Keyword searching is also available. When searching keywords, you can search the entire document, or by author or case name. The “Advanced Search” options allow users to combine multiple keywords (using AND, OR, and NOT connectors), as well as search by document type (e.g. Amicus Brief, Appellee’s Brief, etc.).

You will need your CSU ID number and PIN to access Supreme Court Records and Briefs.

Make sure to check out all the databases available for research from our database page.