Check Table 1's recommended reporter for your jurisdiction. Although Westlaw and Lexis provide multiple reporter citations, you typically only have to cite one. For example, Table 1 indicates that when citing a Washington Supreme Court case, you should use the Pacific Reporter:

Table 1 indicates you should cite U.S. Reports for U.S. Supreme Court cases. If not citing a U.S. Supreme Court case, proceed to the next step.

U.S. Reports is available in PDF format from HeinOnline (1754-2016) and Supremecourt.gov (2016-present).

Note that bound volumes of U.S. Reports have not been published since 2016. Only "Preliminary Prints" of U.S. Reports,  are available from 2016 onward. Preliminary prints indicate U.S Reports page numbers, despite not technically being the same thing as bound volumes. Recent Supreme Court cases may only be available as "slip opinions," which do not indicate U.S. Reports page numbers.

For all other jurisdictions: once you have determined which case reporter to cite to, check Westlaw and Lexis for PDF scans of the reporter. Whether these services have a PDF scan of the exact reporter you are looking for will depend on the jurisdiction. The coverage tends to be better for more recent cases.

On Westlaw, you can find PDFs of reporters at the top of a case:

On Lexis, you can find reporter images under the heading "About This Document" on the right-hand sidebar:

Note that in these two examples, Westlaw and Lexis provide scans of different case reporters.

Harvard's Caselaw Access Project is a free resource with a comprehensive collection of scanned case reporters. This is often the best place to look for reporters not on Westlaw and Lexis, except for recent cases from the last couple years. (Note, however, that copyrighted information like key numbers and case synopses may be redacted.) Select a jurisdiction to see a list of viewable reporters.

HeinOnline and LLMC Digital are particularly useful resources for historical case reporters (less so for contemporary reporters).

Resources on HeinOnline include:

• U.S. Reports (official reporter of the U.S. Supreme Court)
• State Reports: A Historical Archive

Resources on LLMC Digital Include:

• Various federal reporters
• Reporters for all states and territories (select your jurisdiction, then select "Judicial" materials)

The library cannot order case reporters via ILL. If you have gone through these steps and still aren't finding the case, please reach out to a librarian to discuss your options.

We're here to help. Contact a research librarian for help with an assignment, project, or resource.

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Reference Hours

U.S. Supreme Court:

• Hein's U.S. Reports 
• Preliminary prints

Other Jurisdictions:

• Westlaw
• Lexis 
• Caselaw Access Project 

Historical:

• Hein's State Reports
• LLMC Digital