Religion in America (Fall 2010)

Gretchen Gould and Barb Weeg
Rod Library

Finding United States Supreme Court cases

  • LexisNexis Academic
    Select "US Legal" from left hand column
    Select "Federal and State Cases"
    Select "U.S. Supreme Court" from the "Jurisdiction" drop down menu
    Do a search using "Party Names"
  • Example: Lee v. Weisman (1992)
  • You want to look for entry that has the word “Decided” in it.
  • Lee v. Weisman,No. 90-1014 ,SUPREME COURT OF THE UNITED STATES,505 U.S. 577; 112 S. Ct. 2649; 120 L. Ed. 2d 467; 1992 U.S. LEXIS 4364; 60 U.S.L.W. 4723; 92 Cal. Daily Op. Service 5448; 92 Daily Journal DAR 8669,November 6, 1991, Argued ,June 24, 1992, Decided
  • The format of the case and the opinion on LexisNexis Academic can be overwhelming. There is no way to hide the headnotes. To read a cleaner, simpler version of a court opinion, look for the citation like this: 505 U.S. 577
  • The United States Report is available in the Stacks on the 3rd floor under the following call number: KF101.S9
  • 505 U.S. 577: 505 stands for the volume number, 577 is the page that the opinion for Lee v. Weisman starts on.
  • On the LexisNexis Academic screen, you will see “View Available Briefs and Other Documents Related to this Case” Click on it. You will see:
    Go to Supreme Court Brief(s) and Go to Oral Argument Transcript. The link to the Supreme Court Brief(s) does not seem to work from this screen. However, clicking on the “Oral Argument Transcript” does get you the transcript for the arguments for Lee v. Weisman.
  • Elements to look for:
  • Disposition – what happened in the court(s) below before this case reaching the Supreme Court (LexisNexis Academic)
  • Case Summary – short overview of the case
  • Decision (Affirmed means the Supreme Court agrees and has upheld the lower court opinion; reversed means they do not agree with the lower courts and have overturned the lower courts; reversed and remanded means they do not agree with the lower courts, have overturned the decision and sent it back to the lower courts to be handled accordingly)
  • Summary – expanded summary, court’s finding, which justices concurred (agreed) or dissented (disagreed) with the opinion of the Court. The opinion of the Court is the official opinion but each justice can also write their own concurring or dissenting opinions. The justices may want to elaborate on points that were not included in the opinion of the Court.
  • Syllabus – goes over the basic points of the case
  • Counsel – lists attorneys for the case.
  • Briefs of amicus curiae – these are briefs filed by “friends of the court” arguing their support for one side or the other.
  • Judges
  • Opinion - JUSTICE KENNEDY delivered the opinion of the Court (official opinion of the Court)
  • Concur/Dissent–Justices who concur or dissent with the official opinion. Their own separate written opinion may be included as well.

Finding Related Legal Resources and References

  • LexisNexis Academic - Supreme Court Briefs and Oral Argument Transcripts
    Select "US Legal" from left hand column
    Select "Supreme Court Briefs"
    Do a search using "Party Names"
  • In searching for briefs, the results will be varied. Some cases will have a number of briefs online, others may not have any. For example, results might start with the case name (Lee v. Weisman) or the number (No. 90-1014)
  • There may also a link to transcripts of oral arguments heard in the case available but results will be varied.
  • Other websites that might have information on Supreme Court cases:
  • In some cases, an audio version of the oral argument before the Court is available on Oyez. But, not all cases will have an audio version.
  • Cornell University Law School has an excellent site covering the Supreme Court cases
  • To view Supreme Court opinions by party/case name, go to
  • Cornell also has a glossary of legal terms:
  • JSTOR (Databases A-Z) from Rod Library home page
  • For law review articles written around the time of the case
  • You want to narrow the “Item Type” to Article, Review or Editorial
  • Narrow by discipline – go down and select the box titled “Law”
  • Note the The Supreme Court Review is one of the titles under the “Law” section, but only covers 1960-2000.
  • Search by case name in quote marks: “Lee v. Weisman”
  • For years, include a few years before and after the Supreme Court decided the case. In this case, we will search from 1990-1996
  • Results will include law review articles written by law students from different law schools around the country (i.e. Harvard Law Review)
  • Black’s Law Dictionary (UNI Ref Desk CBT KF156 .B53 2004) (older editions in Stacks)
    The standard U.S. law dictionary. Defines terms and phrases used in American and British law.
  • West’s Encyclopedia of American Law (UNI Ref KF154 .W47 2005) (also available online)
    12 volume encyclopedia that covers legal concepts and cases for individuals that are unfamiliar with the law.
  • Landmark Supreme Court Cases (UNI Ref KF4549 .L58 1999)
    Provides summaries of selected United States Supreme Court cases.
  • Encyclopedia of the American Constitution (UNI Ref KF4548 .E53 2000) (also online)
    Contains brief articles that examine constitutional principles and cases.
  • Religion and American Law, an Encyclopedia (UNI Reference KF4783.A68 R45 2000)

Finding Religious Studies and Humanities Journal Articles

  • ATLA Religion Database with ATLASerials (EBSCO)
    Indexing and full-text access to a collection of major religion and theology journals selected by some of the major religion scholars in the United States. Coverage from 1949 to the present. Includes indexing for Christian Century (1917-present) and Christianity and Crisis (1948-1993).

In ATLA, to search for articles in a specific magazine or journal:

  • In the 1st search box type the case name, for example, lee v weisman
  • In the 2nd box type the magazine or journal name, for example, christianity and crisis
    Then click on the dropdown arrow following the 2nd box and click on SO Source
  • Click Search

You could also try ANDing between the party names, for example, lee and weisman

  • JSTOR
    Indexing and full-text access to scholarly journals in the humanities, social sciences, law, and other subject areas.

For religious studies or humanities articles written around the time of the case:

  • In the Narrow by… section, the Item Type area, checkmark the boxes for Article and for Editorial
  • Scroll down to the Narrow by discipline and/or publication title area and checkmark the boxes for Education, Jewish Studies, Political Science, and Religion
  • In the search window type the case name in quote marks: “lee v wiesman”
  • For Date Range include a few years before and after the Supreme Court decided the case. For this case, we will search from 1990-1996

Finding General News and Magazine Articles, including Religious News Articles

  • Academic OneFile
    A source for peer-reviewed, full-text articles from many leading journals in the humanities, the arts, social sciences, and sciences. Choose the Advanced Search option to search for articles in particular Publication Titles such as America (1977-present), Christian Century(1977-present),Christianity and Crisis (2/1989-1993), Commonweal (Catholic), Jewish Lawyer, or Muslim World.

In Academic OneFile, to search for articles in a specific magazine or journal:

  • Click on Advanced Search
  • In the 1st search box type the case name, for example, lee v weisman
  • In the 2nd box type the magazine or journal name, for example, christianity and crisis
    Then click on the dropdown arrow following the 2nd box and highlight Publication Title
  • Click Search

You could also try ANDing between the party names, for example, lee and weisman

  • Lexis Nexis Academic
    Access over 10,000 news, business, and legal sources. Includes deep backfiles and up-to-the-minute stories in national and regional newspapers, wire services, broadcast transcripts, international news, and non-English language sources. Choose the News tab to access newspaper articles from The New York Times, Christian Science Monitor, or other newspapers or to access stories from newswire services such as Religion News Service.
  • New York Times Index
    Free access to citations and abstracts for articles appearing in the New York Times 1851-1980 and 1981-present
  • New York Times (1851-2005): ProQuest Historical Newspapers
    Includes full-text and full image articles since its beginning year. Display the complete image of any page in any issue or browse individual issues page by page. Recent full text articles from The New York Times can be found in the Lexis/Nexis Academic database.
  • Readers Guide Abstracts
    Indexing of the popular general-interest periodicals published in the United States and Canada.
  • Reader's Guide Retrospective
    Indexes popular general-interest periodicals published in the United States and Canada between 1890 and 1982. Includes indexing of America (1953-1982).

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