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Ekstrom Library

POLS 313: American Constitutional Law: Civil Liberties & Civil Rights: Case Law & Law Reviews

U.S. Supreme Court Research

How do I Locate a Legal Citation?

As you go along, you may notice it's easier to search by legal citation than by party names. You can search for your legal citation in Google, but below are a few other links to consider:

Law Reviews


A law review is basically the legal equivalent of a scholarly journal article. They are normally published by a group of students through their law school or a bar association. Articles are normally written by law professors, judges, or legal practitioners. Shorter "notes" and "comments" are written by the student members of the law review.

They usually express the thoughts of a specialist in the field, analyzing a current issue in law and citing current and past court cases. They often provide potential solutions to the problem.

Locating Case Law

Shepardizing in LexisNexis

You’ll notice you can limit your Shepard’s Summary of citing references to Positive Treatment or Negative Treatment

 

Positive Treatment

Positive Treatment indicates citing cases contain a positive treatment/history of your case, such as the following:

  • Affirmed
  • Explained
  • Followed

Negative Treatment

Negative Treatment indicates citing cases contain a negative treatment/history of your case, such as the following:

  • Overuled
  • Distinguished
  • Criticized
  • Questioned
  • Limited
  • Reversed
  • Modified