Library Guides: Political Science: Law

Legal Research

Google Scholar
Find case law with Google Scholar. Includes: state appellate and supreme courts from 1950; federal district, appellate, tax and bankruptcy courts from 1923; and the U.S. Supreme Court from 1791
HeinOnline Academic
Extensive collection of legal and government documents which include case law as well as law journals.
WestlawNext Campus Research
Very similar to Lexis Nexis Academic in content, but has some different search and display options.

State Resources:

Attorney General of ID Official Reports
iCourt : Access to public information on the status of trial court cases in Idaho
National Congress of State Legislatures : The Issues & Research page is a good place to find recently passed laws.
State-by-State Guide to Every State Supreme Court

Citing Case Law:

Most legal materials are cited using Bluebook style, which is the standard legal citation style in all disciplines according to the Purdue Online Writing Lab. Here's their excellent resource page on citing legal materials.

Oxford Reference Books

Oxford Companion to American Law
Oxford Dictionary of Law
Written in clear, jargon-free language, this dictionary is ideal for anyone without a legal qualification.
Oxford Companion to the Supreme Court of the United States
Includes entries on key cases and full treatment of crucial areas of constitutional law, such as abortion, freedom of religion, school desegregation, freedom of speech, voting rights and more.
Oxford Guide to U.S. Supreme Court Decisions
This dictionary includes all 400 entries on major Supreme Court cases through history