Court Briefs, Dockets & Oral Arguments Research Guide: Finding Oral Arguments

Current Cases:

• Supreme Court of the United States - Oral argument information can be found at the United States Supreme Court's website:  
  • Audio Recordings (2010–present) - The audio recordings of oral arguments heard by the Supreme Court of the United States are available to the public at the end of each argument week.  
  • Print Transcripts (1968–present) - Print transcripts are posted to the website on a continual basis.
• The Oyez Project - Cornell’s Legal Information Institute (LII), Justia, and Chicago-Kent College of Law have created a multimedia archive of the  Supreme Court of the United States. It is the most complete and authoritative source for all of the Court’s audio since the installation of a recording system in October 1955. Oyez offers transcript-synchronized and searchable audio.Chicago Kent College of the Law
• Guide to Law Online: U.S. Judiciary - U.S. Law Library of Congress

Databases:

• Westlaw - Go to Trial Transcripts & Oral Arguments to search for oral arguments since 2000 on Westlaw.
• Lexis+ - Go to United States Supreme Court Transcripts for coverage since the 1979 term.  Transcripts are available approximately 15 days after the oral argument.

Notable Trials: Famous in the United States and other nations, transcripts of some court proceedings are available from the following sources:

• UC Law SF Library Online Catalog: Search by keyword using the name of the case; e.g., Sacco Vanzetti or "tennessee evolution"
• Making of Modern Law - Trials, 1600-1926
• HeinOnline's World Trials Library

Internet:

• CourtListener - The oral argument audio in CourtListener has been collected from court websites by Free Law Project,
• The U.S. Supreme Court provides transcripts of oral arguments beginning with the 2000 term; arguments are available within 10-15 days after the transcripts are completed. The transcripts will be permanently archived on the Court's web site.

Microform: The UC Law SF Library has several microform sets of oral arguments:

• The Complete Oral Arguments of the Supreme Court of the United States, 1969 term - 1979 term - KF101.9.C729 - Microform
• Index to the complete oral arguments of the Supreme Court of the United States - KF101.9.C73 Index - Microform
• Oral Arguments of the Supreme Court of the United States - KF101.9.C728 - Microform
• Pleadings, Oral Arguments, Documents from the International Court of Justice - JX1971.6.A246 - Microform

Video: 

• C-SPAN has more than 200 recent U.S. Supreme Court oral arguments (featuring still picture images of the participants with audio) including Rasul v. Bush, Al Odah v. U.S., Cheney v. U.S. District Court, Hamdi v. Rumsfeld, and Rumsfeld v. Padilla.
• The C-SPAN's Video Library includes judicial proceedings with oral arguments. Use the Advanced Search capabilities and search for "oral arguments".

• Last Week Tonight with John Oliver: Supreme Court

• Last Week Tonight with John Oliver: Real Animals, Fake Paws Footage (Supreme Court reenactments)

Some Federal appellate court web sites provide access to selected oral arguments (audio files). They are:

• Federal Circuit: From 2014
• Third Circuit: From 2007
• Fourth Circuit: From May 2011
• Fifth Circuit: From May 21, 2008
• Sixth Circuit: From 2013 
• Seventh Circuit: Click on "Case Information" and then "Oral Argument Recordings" (selected coverage 1994-current)
• Eighth Circuit: From 2000, now available in MP3 format
• Ninth Circuit: Audio from 2007 to present (some video files)

Yale Law School

Locating Oral Arguments 

Berkeley Law

U.S. Supreme Court Oral Arguments

Boston University School of Law

Court Dockets and Documents: U.S. Supreme Court