POL 240
Public Law

Sources for Supreme Court Briefs

The Supreme Court ~ this is the Court's main website. Look here Opinions for links to rulings and opinions.There is also information here on which opinions you want to look for. There are several different versions of opinions here, which the information also explains.This site has the rulings in pdf file format--they are large--keep this in mind when downloading. These files also only go back to 2003.

Lexis-Nexis Legal Research ~ You can search for Supreme Court cases by topic here. Choose "Supreme Court briefs" in the drop-down box to get straight to cases and opinions.

Supreme Court Collection ~ from the Legal Information Institute at Cornell University Law School. You can browse by topic , or search. There are also historic cases here.

Findlaw ~ this is a commercial site and has ads and pop-ups, but it also is easy to use and has historical cases as well.

Sources for First Amendment-specific Supreme Court Cases:

The First Amendment Center's First Amendment Library ~ useful listing of Supreme Court cases

American Library Association's First Amendment Resources ~ links to some useful things, including Findlaw's First Amendment resources.

Researching issues and impacts

Researching precedents:

Try searching for precedent cases in Lexis-Nexis Legal Research

Some general news and information databases:

Academic Search Premier ~ search for news sources, popular press and academic sources
Lexis-Nexis Academic ~ news articles from many geographic locations and types of news sources.
CQ Researcher ~ try searching for cases here to find information on their impacts

You can also try searching in these major newspaper databases:
New York Times , Chicago Tribune, Wall Street Journal

Depending on the case, you might also want to search some subject-specific databases for information on how the case impacted specific areas. Here are a couple of examples:

Business Source Elite ~ research impacts on the business community
ERIC via EBSCO ~ for education-related research
ATLA Religion with ATLASerials ~ for research on religion-related impacts

This is just a small set of examples. If you would like help finding the right database for your topic area, please ask a librarian!

Writing and Citing Resources

For help with writing your outlines and bibliographies, try the Elmhurst College Writing Center online help page.

You can also try these online resources
College Writing and Citing
Citing Electronic Resources
ONLINE! Citation Styles
Citing Sources from the Duke University Libraries

If you need any help finding articles or writing, you can also contact the Reference Desk any time the library is open:

Reference: 630-617-3173
Email: ref[at[elmhurst[dot]edu
AIM: elmhrstcollibref | Yahoo!Messenger: eclibraryreference
MSN Messenger: ref[at]elmhurst.edu

Web Pages for Courses: Communications

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