Researching Opinions of the Supreme Court of the United States

Dan Goodman

© 2009

The opinions of the Supreme Court of the United States are

published officially in a set of case books called the United States
Reports. 28 U.S.C. §411(a) [Note 1]

The United States Reports are referred to as the bounded volumes

of the Supreme Court’s opinions (and other related materials, such as:
rulings, orders, memoranda decisions, case tables).

Only the bound volumes of the United States Reports contain the
final, official text of the opinions of the Supreme Court of the United
States. In case of discrepancy between the bound volume of a case
and any other version of the case--whether print or electronic, official
or unofficial--the bound volume controls.

The early volumes of the United States Reports were originally

published privately by the individual Supreme Court Reporters, also
known as “nominative” reporters. [Note 2] As was the practice in
England, the reports were referred to by the names of the reporters
who compiled them. “The first ninety volumes of the United States
Reports are still cited by name of the individual reporter. [Note 3]
The nominative reporters ended as a result of the decision in Wheaton
v. Peters, 33 U.S. (8 Pet.) 591 (1834), in which the Supreme Court
decided that the reporter held no copyright in the text of the decisions.
[Note 4] The United States Reports then became the official reports
of the United States Supreme Court. The United States Reports are
abbreviated in citations as ‘U.S.’ .” [Note 5]

The first two reporters acted in an unofficial capacity. In 1817,

Congress authorized the appointment of Reporter with an annual
salary of $1000 per year (An Act to provide for reports of the
decisions of the Supreme Court, March 3, 1817). [Note 6] In 1953
the title Reporter was changed to Reporter of Decisions by the
request of then reporter, Walter Wyatt with the authorization of then
Chief Justice Fred M. Vinson.

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 Volume 1 of the United States Reports contains no decisions of the
Supreme Court of the United States. Instead, there are decisions from
various Pennsylvania courts, dating from the colonial period and the
first decade after Independence. The volume was originally titled,
“Reports of Cases Ruled and Adjudged in the Courts of Pennsylvania,
Before and Since the Revolution.” It represented the works of
Alexander J. Dallas, as a lawyer and journalist (in Philadelphia,
Pennsylvania) reporting on these cases for newspapers and
periodicals. It was printed in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania by Thomas
Bradford in 1790. Volumes 2, 3 and 4 do have decisions of the
Supreme Court of the United States, but there are also decisions from
lower federal courts and Pennsylvania courts.

The Reporter (of Decisions) is responsible for preparing a syllabus

for each of the Supreme Court’s decisions. Known also as a headnote,
the syllabus is ahead of the decision (opinion), summarizes the case,
and indicates the Court’s holding. He or she is also in charge with
editing and publishing the decisions of the Supreme Court both when
they are announced and when they are published in the United States
Reports.

Prior to the release of each bound volume of the United States

Reports, the court's decisions appear in three temporary, official
forms: the bench opinion, the slip opinion, and the preliminary print.

The bench opinion is the opinion handed down from the bench on
the day of release by the Supreme Court of the United States. It is
intended for the public and the media. Another version of the opinion
is sent to the Court’s printer on the same day. When printed (after a
few days) this version of the opinion becomes the slip opinion. The
slip opinion is a printed form of the opinion issued from the Court. It
contains the unanimous opinion; majority opinion (or plurality opinion)
and any concurring opinion(s) or dissenting opinion(s), and the
syllabus. It may also have corrections made. In a situation,
therefore, of a discrepancy between the bench opinion and the slip
opinion, the slip opinion controls. The slip opinion, along with other
slip opinions, and all of the announcements, tables, indexes and other
features that make up the United States Reports are combined into a
soft cover pamphlet called a preliminary print. A preliminary print
(or a supplement) is a collection of slip opinions, with related
materials, in soft cover form. A slip opinion in a preliminary print may
have additional corrections. In a situation, therefore, of a discrepancy
between the slip opinion and the slip opinion in the preliminary print,

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the preliminary print of the slip opinion controls. Usually, two or three
preliminary prints will be combined into a single bound volume. A slip
opinion in the bound volume may have more corrections. In which
case, the bound volume, as stated above, controls.

____________

Notes:

1) 28 USC 411(a) states:

“The decisions of the Supreme Court of the United States shall be

printed, bound, and distributed in the preliminary prints and bound
volumes of the United States Reports as soon as practicable after
rendition, to be charged to the proper appropriation for the judiciary.
The number and distribution of the copies shall be under the control of
the Joint Committee on Printing.”

2) The United States Reports were issued by private publishers until

1922 when the U.S. Government Printing Office assumed publication,
beginning with volume 257 covering the October term, 1921.
(http://www.answers.com/topic/united-states-reports)

3) The name of the Reporters for the first ninety volumes of the
United States Reports are:

Volumes Reporter Term Designation

1 - 4 Alexander J. Dallas 1790 – 1800 1–4 Dallas

5 - 13 William Cranch 1801 – 1815 1–9 Cranch

14 – 25 Henry Wheaton 1816 – 1827 1 – 12 Wheat.

26 – 41 Richard Peters 1828 – 1842 1 – 16 Peters

42 – 65 Benjamin Chew Howard 1843 – 1860 1 – 24 Howard

66 – 67 Jeremiah Sullivan Black 1861 – 1862 1–2 Black

68 – 90 John William Wallace 1863 – 1874 1 – 23 Wall.

Decisions of the Supreme Court of the United States appearing in

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these early reports have dual citation forms; one for the volume
number of the United States Reports, and one for the set of nominate
reports. For example, the complete citation to McCulloch v. Maryland
is 17 U.S. (4 Wheat.) 316 (1819).

4) Before this case the individual reporter privately published the

United States Reports for profit. In the case, former reporter Henry
Wheaton sued then current reporter Richard Peters for reprinting cases
from “Wheaton’s Reports” in abridged form.

5) Thomas M. Cooley Law Libraries’ Research Guide Series; “United

States Supreme Court Opinions” at
http://www.cooley.edu/library/research_guides/United_States_Supre
me_Court_Opinions.pdf

6) See 28 U.S.C. 673 (Reporter)

Further Readings:

1) Thomas M. Cooley Law Libraries’ Research Guide Series; “United

States Supreme Court Opinions”;
http://www.cooley.edu/library/research_guides/United_States_Supre
me_Court_Opinions.pdf

2) Supreme Court of the United States; “Information about

Opinions”;
http://www.supremecourtus.gov/opinions/info_opinions.html

3) Wikipedia; “Reporter of Decisions of the Supreme Court of the

United States”
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reporter_of_Decisions_of_the_Supreme_
Court_of_the_United_States

4) Craig Joyce, “Reporters of Decisions of the Supreme Court of the United

States.” University of Houston Law Center No. 2005-A-11. Available at SSRN:
http://ssrn.com/abstract=800884

5) Answer.com; “United States Reports”

http://www.answers.com/United%20States%20Reports

6) Absolute Astronomy.com; “United States Reports”;

http://www.absoluteastronomy.com/topics/United_States_Reports

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