Introduction

• Often you need information for a specific case. If you have the citation number, it is relatively straightforward.
• Judicial decisions or "opinions" in federal appeals and Supreme courts as well as regional, state, and specialized courts are published in a series of volumes called "reports" or, more commonly, "reporters." In these reporters, the individual cases are identified by the volume number, the abbreviation for the reporter's name, and the page number. Example: 410 U.S. 959
• I want to emphasize this: You need to know in which court a decision is likely to have been made as well as the format of the citation in the appropriate reporter(s) for that court. See the page on "Abbreviations for Legislation & Court Reporters" for examples.

Process of Finding a Case by Citation Number

• Click on Get a Document at the top of the screen.
• In the red bar right below "Get a Document" you select what type of information you are going to enter. In this case it is the Citation. Again, be sure that you have the correct number and format and know which courts to search.
• When entering the citation number:
  • You do not have to capitalize.
  • You can omit periods, but you must input the spaces where the periods would have been.
• Example:
  • In the below, I've entered 410 U.S. 959, a citation number for a case that had been before the US Supreme Court.

    

  • Click on Get.
  • Lexis retrieves the following: