Finding Federal Case Law

Finding Federal Case Law

The federal legal system has its own system of courts that is completely separate from the state court systems.

Not surprisingly, the highest court in the federal system is called the United States Supreme Court.
The intermediate appellate courts are called the United States Circuit Courts of Appeals, T
The trial courts are called the United States District Courts. Several states are contained within the jurisdiction of each U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. Each state has at least one U.S. District Court, and larger states may have two or more.

All of the U.S. Circuit and District Courts have to follow the U.S. Supreme Court’s interpretations of federal law. All of the U.S. District Courts within a given circuit must also follow the federal law interpretations of that circuit’s U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, unless the Supreme Court interprets the law differently. Maryland is in the Fourth Circuit, so the U.S. District Court for the District of Maryland must follow the federal law as interpreted by the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals, unless the Supreme Court disagrees with a Fourth Circuit interpretation.

Court	Opinions are published in...	Percent of Opinions that are Published
U.S. Supreme Court	United States Reports (abbreviated “U.S.”), the Supreme Court Reporter (abbreviated “S. Ct.”), and Lawyer’s Edition (abbreviated “L. Ed.”).	100%
U.S. Court of Appeals	Federal Reporter, which is now in its third series. (Abbreviations for each series: First – “F.”; Second – “F.2d”; Third – “F.3d”.)	50%
U.S. District Courts	Federal Supplement, which is now in its second series (abbreviations “F. Supp.” And “F. Supp. 2d”)	10%

A citation to a federal case from the Fourth Circuit might look like this:

Finding Federal Case Law:
Unfortunately, the free case law databases for the U.S. Circuit and District Courts, only have cases dating back a few years. No matter how old they are, cases remain binding law until they are overruled by other cases or until the law is changed by statute or regulation. Therefore, you can’t rely on free Federal case law databases for a complete search. You can go to your local public law library and search their subscription case law databases; a reference librarian can show you how.

Or if you prefer print, you can search their Federal Practice Digest, which is a subject index to federal case law. For information on using the Federal Practice Digest and other case law digests, see Finding Case Law by Subject.

Source: This section developed by Sara Kelley, Librarian, Georgetown University Law Library,

in partnership with the Maryland Legal Assistance Network. Updated by the Maryland State Law Library (MSLL).

Last Review Date 9/12/08 (PLL/M.A.J.)