Winning Research Skills - Westlaw

Chapter 2
On Westlaw, the All U.S. Supreme Court Cases database (SCT) contains Supreme Court
decisions from the inception of the Court in 1790.
Lower Federal Courts
Below the Supreme Court in the federal system are 13 federal courts of appeals and numerous
federal district courts. A map of the federal judicial circuits is shown in Figure 2.3.
Figure 2.3: Federal judicial circuits
Jurisdiction of Courts of Appeals
The jurisdiction of the federal courts of appeals (often referred to as circuit courts) consists of
appeals from decisions of district courts, together with appeals from decisions of federal
administrative agencies (e.g., the Federal Communications Commission).
Since 1880, the decisions of the federal courts of appeals have been published in West’s Federal
Reporter series. West also published a collection of earlier cases in a set called Federal Cases. On
Westlaw, decisions of the courts of appeals, from inception, are in the U.S. Courts of Appeals
Cases databases (CTA and CTA-OLD). You can also search databases containing documents
from individual courts of appeals. For example, the CTA8 and CTA8-OLD databases contain
documents from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit.
Jurisdiction of District Courts
The jurisdiction of the district courts is the most complex part of federal jurisdiction. A case will
be tried in a district court if it “arises under” federal law for purposes of federal trial court
jurisdiction. Federal district courts also have jurisdiction over civil cases involving parties from
different states; these are known as diversity cases. The criminal jurisdiction of the district courts
includes all prosecutions for federal crimes.
Since 1932, the decisions of the federal district courts have been published in West’s Federal
Supplement series of reporters. On Westlaw, decisions of district courts can be found in the U.S.
District Courts Cases databases (DCT, which contains decisions issued from 1945 to present,
and DCT-OLD, which contains district court decisions prior to 1945). District court decisions
are also available in databases organized by circuit, e.g., the U.S. District Court Cases for Sixth
Circuit States database (DCT6) and the U.S. District Court Cases for Sixth Circuit States–Before
12 Winning Research Skills