Legal Research

Not for ZiefBrief the YouTube clips, the excerpts from the Almanac of the Federal Judiciary, or the 8-second sound bites. To to take the measure of Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor, we prefer to dig right in to her opinions. For this, we find that a couple of sources and tools are particularly helpful.

First, there's a concise New York Times summary (with links to full text) of Judge Sotomayor's Notable Court Opinions and Articles.

Then there are ScotusBlog's analyses of her appellate opinions:

• Judge Sotomayor's Appellate Opinions in Civil Cases
• Judge Sotomayor's Civil Opinions - Part II
• Judge Sotomayor's Civil Opinions - Part III
• Judge Sotomayor's Civil Opinions - Part IV
• Judge Sotomayor's Opinions with Dissents ? Part I

These ScotusBlog analyses don't link to full text, but they do include case names and docket numbers.

And Lexis or Westlaw subscribers who want to go beyond summaries and analyses can do comprehensive searches for Judge Sotomayor's opinions and orders.

On Lexis, pick one of these sources: "NY Federal District Courts" or "2nd Circuit - US Court of Appeals Cases." For searches try:

• opinionby(sotomayor) [for any District Court opinions, and for majority opinions in the Court of Appeals]
• concurby(sotomayor) [for concurring opinions in the Court of Appeals]
• dissentby(sotomayor) [for dissenting opinions in the Court of Appeals]

On Westlaw, pick one of these databases: "U.S. District Court Cases for New York" (DCTNY) or "U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit Cases" (CTA2). For searches, try:

• judge(sotomayor)
  
  [for any District Court opinions, and for majority opinions in the Court of Appeals]
• con(sotomayor +s concur!)
  
  [for concurring opinions in the Court of Appeals]
• dis(sotomayor +s dissent!)
  
  [for dissenting opinions in the Court of Appeals]

If you find the results of the Lexis and Westlaw searches overwhelming (and for lead opinions and orders, you'll get hundreds of results), add other search terms to retrieve cases dealing with specific facts or issues.