Oyez is a fantastic resource if you have to read court cases relating to the United States Supreme Court, but don't know how to read court cases... because they are confusing. Think of it as CliffNotes.
The site also links to LII's and the Justia Supreme Court Center's website.
“Oyez (pronounced OH-yay)—a free law project from Cornell’s Legal Information Institute (LII), Justia, and Chicago-Kent College of Law—is a multimedia archive devoted to making the Supreme Court of the United States accessible to everyone. 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, plain-English case summaries, illustrated decision information, and full-text Supreme Court opinions (through Justia). Oyez also provides detailed information on every justice throughout the Court’s history and offers a panoramic tour of the Supreme Court building, including the chambers of several justices.” - Taken from Oyez's About page.
These videos will help you understand the structure of a court case and explain how to read them.
Don't know much about your topic? Here are several suggestions to get background information in no particular order. Additional resources are in the other tabs.
1. Try searching CQ Researcher, a library database with reports on hot button issues.
Tip: Pay attention to the report date. Content may not be current.
2. Go straight to Nexis Uni: Search a topic and read news and law review articles to learn more about it. Court cases and more are in Nexis Uni. Check out the video tutorials for Nexis Uni on the tab on the left.
3. Google Scholar: you can get background information on several legal issues here.
4. CRS reports: CRS stands for Congressional Research Service and these reports are objective and authoritative research provided to Congress to inform them on a variety of issues and topics.
5. Office of the Law Revision Counsel United States Code: “The Code contains the general and permanent laws of the United States, organized into titles based on subject matter.”
6. Cornell's Law Information Institute: making the law easy to understand and discover
You can also check out additional Kemp Library databases like the ones below:
Find either a citation for the court case in your background research
or
Search Nexis Uni for your topic (sports betting New Jersey) and limit to court cases. Then sort by Date (Newest to Oldest).
Example: Murphy v. NCAA, 138 S. Ct. 1461
In the Guided Search,
In the new Nexis Uni interface, click on the All Nexis Uni on the right side of the search box to expand it.
The box will expand. Click on Statutes and Legislation, type your keywords in search box and then click Search.
On the left, narrow by Jurisdiction (i.e. New Jersey) and then by Source (i.e. New Jersey Annotated Statutes).
Congress.gov is freely accessible website to find statutes and legislation.
Don't understand the legislative process? You're not alone! Watch/Read about it here.
Nexis Uni is the major database for court cases and legal research. Become a master. Check out some of their video tutorials.