GPO Makes Available Supreme Court Cases Dating Back to the 18th Century

The U.S. Government Publishing Office (GPO) has made available hundreds of historic volumes of U.S. Supreme Court cases dating from 1790–1991. These cases are published officially in the United States Reports and are now available on GPO’s GovInfo, the one-stop site for authentic, published information for all three branches of the Federal Government.

United States Reports: https://www.govinfo.gov/app/collection/usreports

“GPO is proud to make these historic volumes of Supreme Court cases available to the American public," said GPO Director Hugh Nathanial Halpern. “The addition of this collection to GovInfo is just one more step toward GPO delivering on its vision of an America Informed.”

Major cases available through this new collection include:

Brown v. Board of Education, 347 U.S. 483 (1954) https://www.govinfo.gov/app/details/USREPORTS-347/USREPORTS-347-483: The Court finds that segregated schools in the states are unconstitutional.

Miranda v. Arizona, 384 U.S. 436 (1966) https://www.govinfo.gov/app/details/USREPORTS-384/USREPORTS-384-436: The Court rules that police must advise criminal suspects of their rights under the Constitution to remain silent and consult with a lawyer.

Marbury v. Madison, 5 U.S. (1 Cranch) 137 (1803) https://www.govinfo.gov/app/details/USREPORTS-5/USREPORTS-5-137: Establishes judicial review, which gives the Supreme Court the authority to review the actions of other branches of Government to determine whether they are constitutional.

The cases of the Supreme Court of the United States are published officially in the United States Reports. The volumes are compiled and published for the Court by the Reporter of Decisions. A volume of the United States Reports also usually contains a list of Justices and officers of the Court during the Term; an allotment of Justices by circuit; announcements of Justices’ investitures and retirements; memorial proceedings for deceased Justices; a cumulative table of cases reported; orders in cases decided in summary fashion; reprints of amendments to the Supreme Court’s Rules and the various sets of Federal Rules of Procedure; a topical index; and a statistical table summarizing case activity for the past three Court Terms.