Looking for additional Federal Caselaw material?
See our Federal Dockets, Briefs, Filings, & More subject guide.
Decisions from the U.S. Supreme Court are available for free online from several different resources, including the Library of Congress (begins with 1754) and the U.S. Supreme Court (begins with 1991).
Select decisions from the federal Circuit and District courts are available for free online from several different resources, including PACER, CourtListener, and govinfo. Coverage varies. See below for more information.
CourtListener Free Law Project
1759-present. CourtListener is a free legal research website containing millions of legal opinions from federal and state courts.
Oyez Cornell’s Legal Information Institute (LII), Chicago-Kent College of Law and Justia.com
1793-present. Oyez (pronounced OH-yay)— is the most complete and authoritative source for all of the Court's audio beginning in October 1955. Offers transcript-synchronized and searchable audio, plain-English case summaries, decision information, full-text Supreme Court opinions, and detailed information on every justice throughout the Court's history.
U.S. Supreme Court Opinions Supreme Court of the United States
Begins with 1991 Term. See Opinions Relating to Orders for 2017 - present. See U.S. Reports for vol. 502 (1991 Term) - most recent published bound volume and/or Preliminary Prints.
U.S. Reports Library of Congress
Begins with vol. 1 (1754).
CourtListener Free Law Project
Coverage varies by court. See specific content coverage here. CourtListener is a free legal research website containing millions of legal opinions from federal and state courts.
Federal Law: Judicial Opinions Legal Information Institute, Cornell University Law School
Provides links to the individual circuit courts as well as district, bankruptcy, and select specialty courts.
PACER.gov Administrative Office of the United States Courts
PACER provides access to federal case information nationwide. The PACER system offers quick, accurate information about current federal cases. Includes judicial opinions when available. Users need to register to search PACER. Nominal fees may apply. See the FAQs for more information.
United States Court Opinions govinfo
Project between the U.S. Government Printing Office (GPO) and the Administrative Office of the United States Courts (AOUSC) to provide public access to opinions from selected United States appellate, district, and bankruptcy courts. Coverage varies by jurisdiction, but most available April 2004 - present. Includes opinions from Eastern District of Pennsylvania.
Some court websites may also include select unpublished decisions. Visit the courts' websites for more information.
For help finding courts' websites, use the Federal Court Finder from the United States Courts.
Internet search engines, like Google Scholar (select 'caselaw' under the search bar), and other sites, like CourtListener.com, Descrybe.ai, and the Harvard Law School Caselaw Access Project, can also be used to find federal cases.