Pumpkin spice everything and falling leaves, but perhaps not the unseasonably warm temperatures, usher in October and the start of the United States Supreme Court’s October 2019 Term. The court calendar shows that the Supreme Court is in private conference today, October 1st, to discuss cases and vote on petitions for review.
Next Monday, October 7th will be the first day of oral arguments for the term. On the first day, arguments will be heard in the following cases: Kahler v. Kansas, a case challenging the lack of insanity defense; Ramos v. Louisiana, a case considering whether the Sixth Amendment requires a unanimous jury verdict; and Peter v. NantKwest, a case considering the procedures for challenging the denial of a Patent by the Patent and Trademark Office. On October 8th, the court will hear a trio of cases that SCOTUSBlog asserts “could prove to be some of the biggest of the term.” The issues concern whether federal employment discrimination laws, which bar discrimination “because of sex” protect gay, lesbian, and transgender employees. (Embedded links direct to SCOTUSblog posts which contain embedded links to case proceedings.)
Information about the oral arguments, including the availability of transcripts and audio of the arguments, can be found on the court’s website. Slip opinions, the first version of the Court’s opinions, are posted within minutes of the issuance of the opinion, remain on the website for the entire Term, and are published in the United States Reports. Electronic copies of the opinions from US Reports can be found either on the Supreme Court’s website (1991-2012) or on the website for the Law Library of Congress (1791-2004).
Print Resources:
United States Supreme Court Slip Opinions, 2nd Floor – Reporters
Official Reports of the Supreme Court (Preliminary Print), 2nd Floor – Reporters
United States Reports, 2nd Floor – Reporters
Databases:
ProQuest Supreme Court Insight
Supreme Court Insight is a complete online collection of full opinions from Supreme Court argued cases, including per decision, dockets, oral arguments, joint appendices and amicus briefs. Content associated with each case is compiled and organized to facilitate understanding of the judicial process and is also retrievable on a document by document basis.
CQ Supreme Court Collection
CQ Supreme Court Collection contains summaries and analysis of more than four thousand major decisions, historical and contemporary, including all cases in which the Burger and Rehnquist Courts (October 1969 to the present) issued a written opinion. Includes links to the full text of the cases. The collection can be searched by topic, justice, and case name. Includes tools to research justices’ voting records and opinion alignments.
HeinOnline: U.S. Supreme Court Library
Complete coverage of the official U.S. Reports bound volumes as well as preliminary prints, slip opinions, and books and periodicals related to the U.S. Supreme Court are included in this library.
HeinOnline: History of Supreme Court Nominations
This library features the complete print series Supreme Court of the U.S. Hearings and Reports on Successful and Unsuccessful Nominations of Supreme Court Justices by the Senate Judiciary Committee. The Browse by Justice option allows you to see relevant works related to that Justice, including links to articles, a bibliography of other works, and links to Scholarly Articles. (Current through 2018, Kavanaugh, Brett M.)
October 1st marked the first day of oral arguments at the