BEV BUTULA: GPO offers access to federal court opinions

By: BEVERLY BUTULA//November 7, 2011//

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The Government Printing Office’s Federal Digital System offers free access to various federal publications including the Code of Federal Regulations, Federal Register and the Congressional Record. The collection continues to grow as materials are added or moved from GPO Access.

On Oct. 31, the U.S. Courts announced that more than 12,000 opinions from three courts are now available via the FDsys. According to the announcement, only three courts are currently available — U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit, the U.S. District Court in Rhode Island, and the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of Florida. However, if you access the court opinions webpage, there are two additional courts listed. Those are the U.S. District Court in Kansas and the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York.

The webpage offers this summary:

“United States Courts Opinions (USCOURTS) collection is a pilot project between the U.S. Government Printing Office (GPO) and the Administrative Office of the United States Courts (AOUSC) to provide public access to opinions from selected United States appellate, district, and bankruptcy courts. The content of this collection dates back to April 2004, though searchable electronic holdings for some courts may be incomplete for this earlier time period. Once an opinion is located, all associated opinions within the same case can be accessed from the opinion More Information page.”

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