Free Resources

Justia consists of primarily primary materials with much of their resources being pulled from various state and federal government websites. Similarly to FindLaw, it was designed for all users, not just legal professionals, and can be used to locate case law, statutes, and regulations on both the state and federal level.

To locate Supreme Court cases, users can look at the "Legal Research & Law Practice" section and select either "Laws: Cases & Codes" or "US Courts." Each option will link users to different information. 

"Laws: Cases and Codes" will redirect users to a page where there are several options for finding Supreme Court case law. First, you can select "US Case Law" under the "US Primary Law" heading, then "US Supreme Court (1759-present)." You can also go back to the "Laws: Cases and Codes" page and select "US Supreme Court" under the "US Federal Law" heading. Both options will redirect users to a page titled the "Justia U.S. Supreme Court Center," where you can find a free collection of all U.S. Supreme Court decisions from 1791 to present, as well as opinion summaries, briefs, oral argument audio, and resources that provide a panoramic view of each case in its context. There, you can search for cases by date, topic, or even by justice, and more. 

If users decide to select "US Courts" instead, they will be redirect to a short list of a handful of courts, the first option being "US Supreme Court." This link will take users to another page where they can find links to access a handful of useful resources, such as the above mentioned "U.S. Supreme Court Center," as well as "Oyez" and the "U.S. Supreme Court" website.

For lower level Federal Courts, users can use similar strategies to those used for the Supreme Courts. First, they can select either "Laws: Cases & Codes" or "US Courts" under "Legal Research & Law Practice." Each option will provide the user with access to different information, though the layout will be different depending on the route you take. 

If users select "Laws: Cases & Codes," they will be redirected to a page that contains information they can use to access various levels of US Federal Law and State Law. To find lower level Federal cases, you can select either "US Courts of Appeals Cases" or "US Federal District Courts Cases," depending on the court system that you are looking for. You can also find links to various Federal Court Dockets and Case Filings along with the opinions. Both options will lead users to a page with a handful of federal jurisdictions, such as the different Federal Circuit Courts for "US Federal Courts of Appeals Cases" and each state's Federal District Courts in "US Federal District Court Cases," that users can search through to find opinions. 

If "US Courts" is selected, similar to the Supreme Court, the user can select either "US Courts of Appeals" or "US District Courts and Bankruptcy Courts" to find pages with links to various courts and their websites. 

For State Courts, users can select either "Laws: Cases & Codes" or "US Courts" under "Legal Research & Law Practice." Each option will provide the user with access to different information.

Using "Laws: Cases & Codes," users will find a section titled "State Law," which can be used to find links to the laws of each of the 50 states, plus D.C., Puerto Rico, Guam, and the US Virgin Islands. These links will redirect users to pages where they can find state level codes, case law, and more. 

By selecting "US Courts," users will be redirected to a page where they can select "State Courts," which should provide users with a link to a list of all 50 states, which can then be used to find various websites within each state, which users can use to find a plethora of additional information.