Wikipedia:WikiProject U.S. Supreme Court cases

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The United States Supreme Court Case Article Improvement Project is a project started to improve the quality and uniformity of the Supreme Court case articles on Wikipedia. Please see the introduction below. Most of our work centers on the to-do list, below.

Contents 1 Project Collaboration Article 2 To-do list 3 Introduction 4 Project 4.1 Phases 4.2 Guidelines and article outline 4.2.1 Suggested article outline 4.2.2 Alternative outline 4.3 Starting a new case article 4.4 Resources 5 Examples of well-written articles 6 Wikipedians involved 7 Project accomplishments 8 Comments

[edit] Project Collaboration Article

Periodically, Project members come together and choose a Project Collaboration Article to give us all a focus. The goal of this PCA is to improve a Supreme Court decision article to the standard of featured article. Nominations for the next PCA may be submitted at any time. The next PCA is decided by majority vote whenever the previous PCA is completed.

The current PCA is: Ashcroft v. Free Speech Coalition

[edit] To-do list

	To-do list for Wikipedia:WikiProject U.S. Supreme Court cases:	edit  · history  · watch  · refresh
Please help keep this list up-to-date by adding, moving, and removing items as appropriate! Requested review: McConnell v. Federal Election Commission Oyama v. California Bush v. Gore (currently in full peer review) New York v. United States Dred Scott v. Sandford Infobox issues: Category:United States Supreme Court cases without an infobox Need work: United States v. Miller fill in the blanks in infobox(Maybe the article itself is insufficient). United States v. Hubbell Goss v. Lopez landmarks students' rights case, needs expansion Leary v. United States Linder v. United States I wrote it, but I need help using the template. Beacon Theaters v. Westover barely even a stub! Schlesinger v. Councilman contains virtually no info on case itself Duke Power Co. v. Carolina Environmental Study Group needs outline Parisi v. Davidson (stubby) Bradwell v. Illinois United States v. Carolene Products Co. needs outline Schneider v. State needs outline Rasul v. Bush contains no info or summary of decision and opinions Rumsfeld v. Padilla barely discuses the opinions Smith v. Maryland (just started) Swidler & Berlin v. United States (just started) U.S. Term Limits, Inc. v. Thornton (just started) Wright v. Rockefeller (need to expand Goldberg's dissent) Whalen v. Roe (has an infobox, but still needs a lot of work) Burlington N. & S.F.R. Co. v. White (just started, lacks many essential details) Erznoznik v. City of Jacksonville (just started) Cooper Industries v. Leatherman Tool Group, Inc. (finished except for assessment.) Need to be started: United States v. Interstate Commerce Commission 337 U.S. 426 Sipuel v. Oklahoma State Regents Guiles v. Marineau Weems v. United States

[edit] Introduction

The idea for this project came while adding "The Bench" section to a number of the articles. It was noticed that there is a large lack of uniformity among the articles as to how certain things are written or formatted. Also, the outline (when there was an outline at all) seemed to change often. The readers would benefit from a more uniform outline as to how the articles are written.

A later part of the project is to put complete information in every section of each article and check each article for grammar and formatting. The last part of the main project will be to assure there are no "red links" left. Since new mentions to articles and stubs are added all the time, this will surely be an ongoing project. The goal is to have anyone who contributes an article regarding a Supreme Court case follow the formats laid out by this project and if they are not followed, to have someone helping with the project correct any problems in a timely manner.

Wikipedia is an amazing project. In order to further its greatness, this sub-project will improve quality in this particular area so that any reader who wants to learn about the Supreme Court cases can navigate and read them more easily and also have supporting information. Wikipedia is knowledge. Knowledge is power.

[edit] Project

Since this project is obviously a large task, it is not likely to be completed quickly or easily and as stated above, it will be ongoing. Due to the project's size, the main project is currently being done is waves. The main source used to find the articles involved is the List of United States Supreme Court cases. This list is used and dealt with by the project.

[edit] Phases

The phases or "waves" of the project are easier to accomplish in a certain order, but there are no set rules; any Wikipedian can work on any phase at any time.

• Infoboxes All cases should have infoboxes, which effectively replace a defunct "The bench" section. (Example here.) A guide to creating infoboxes is here. Infoboxes can be created using this template. Previously, infoboxes were substituted, like this one, but the appearance is identical and so changing old templates is a very low priority.
• Case citations: The object of the phase is to add, verify and/or format case citations.

Proper format- ''[[Name v. Name]]'', VVV U.S. PPP ([[year]]) See case citation for further help.

1. Add the proper case citation to every reference within each article.
2. Add the proper case citation to every case on List of United States Supreme Court cases.

• Avoid redirects: The main object of this phase is to change every instance of Supreme Court wikilinks to read United States Supreme Court, but be directed to Supreme Court of the United States, which is the actual article.

Proper format- [[Supreme Court of the United States|United States Supreme Court]]

This should also be done to every wikilink involved. Other examples are the names of the Justices.

To simplify the process, you can use the SCOTUS link or scotus link template like so: {{scotus link}}. This expands to United States Supreme Court.

• External link to text: Every article should have an external link section with at least one link to the full text of the decision. The easiest and probably most reliable place to link to is FindLaw.com. Opinions can be found by searching at http://www.findlaw.com/casecode/supreme.html.
• Outline: The desired outline for every article is shown below. This phase is simply to add the outline. Every part does not have to be filled in, so you do not have to be able to read the opinion or know everything about the case. This phase has several parts (being the different sections) and is fully described below.
• Categorize: Every article should be put into the category of United States Supreme Court cases, but also can be put into proper categories regarding the type of case law.

Example: Category:United States copyright case law

• Copyedit: Make sure everything that should be linked is linked. Proofread for grammar, style, etc.
• Fact-check: (For those who qualify only.) Read and checked for accuracy by a legal scholar or knowledgeable person in the area of law.

[edit] Guidelines and article outline

The following is the current desired outline for Supreme Court case articles. It contains all the necessary information and, if followed, will give some structure to the articles. This outline is not set in stone. This project is a living project and any element of the project or the outline can and will be adjusted upon reasonable debate.

[edit] Suggested article outline

1. Infobox - As described above, every case should have an infobox.
2. Introduction - The introduction should always contain the case name (bold AND italics) with the citation and a brief case description (one or two lines is sufficient; simply stating that it was a Supreme Court case and what it had to do with, and why it was important).
3. Prior history - The first header should be "Prior history." This section should contain information on the case's prior history, its history in lower courts, as well as any precedents that the case references. Often times there are one or two precedents used by the Justices as main precedent to either uphold or overturn. These precedents should be mentioned and linked in this section.
4. Case - This section is obviously the heart of the article. It should contain a summary of the case as well as any important events of note that occurred during the case. Also, any excerpts from the decision or dissenting opinions should be put in this section.
5. Effects of the decision - This section should contain information about the effects the decision had on the relevant law. This would include effects the case had on precedents involved in the consideration of the decision as well as effects on the regular business of the American people. The basis of this section is to say in plain English what effect the case had on the law (e.g., Roe v. Wade made abortion legal in all 50 states).
6. Subsequent history - This section should contain any events that occurred after the decision. Such events would include what happened after a case was remanded to a lower court, "Nixon turned over his tapes and resigned", etc. Also included in this section would be any information on cases that have since been decided using this case as precedent or cases that have since clarified, nullified or reversed the current decision.
7. External links - Every article should have a section for "external links" ("external" capitalized, "links" lowercase). Every external link section should include a link to the complete text of the decision that will likely be there for some time to come, preferably with both majority and minority opinions (Good sources are Oyez, LII and Findlaw). The formatting for a Findlaw opinion is {{ussc|VVV|PPP|year}} Any other interesting external links can be added, as well.
8. Additional sections - Many articles also contain Notes or References sections as necessary.
9. Categories - Every article should be in the Category:United States Supreme Court cases category. The goal is to place each article in its appropriate case law category as well, but at the very least, it should be in the main category so it can be shown. Category:United States case law shows most relevant sub-categories of case law, including case law relevant to a certain amendment(s) of the Constitution.

• List - It is not part of the article outline, but every case should be listed on the List of United States Supreme Court cases page in the appropriate place as well.

[edit] Alternative outline

As appropriate, an alternative outline can be used for the bulk of the article. The infobox and introduction remain the same, as do external links, etc.

1. Background of the case - Subheaders will vary based on relevant substantive background, but the following are included as examples:
   1. Underlying factual pattern This section should just describe what the Court argued, not rebut it; counterarguments by the dissent should be described in the dissent, though mentioned here if the majority's argument expressly replies to the dissent.
   2. Trial court proceedings and decision This includes any key proceedings and findings of fact at the trial level, as well as the court's decision and rationale.
   3. Court of Appeals decision Similarly, this section includes the decision and rationale of the court of appeals.
2. Court's decision - This section contains the court's decision and its reasoning. If it takes a while to explain how the justices voted, then it might be appropriate to have a subheader for the majority and other opinions following the explanative paragraph.
   1. Carswell's majority opinion This section should just describe what the Court argued, not rebut it; counterarguments by the dissent should be described in the dissent, though mentioned here if the majority's argument expressly replies to the dissent.
   2. Friday's concurring opinion - as applicable
   3. Lillie's dissenting opinion - as applicable
3. Critical response - This section can include media commentary and law review/scholarly criticism; may also include criticism expressed by other judges on other courts.
4. Subsequent developments - This can include developments in the case on remand from the Court, other factual changes that are relevant or consequent to the decision, or subsequent relevant case law. It can additionally or alternatively (as a subheader or header) contain information about subsequent jurisprudence; see end of United States v. O'Brien for a good example.

[edit] Starting a new case article

You can start a new case article using the following process:

1. Subst template Begin each page with the following template based on whether the case has a Volume and Page number in the Court Reporter:

Recently decided: {{subst:Template:SCOTUS-case|Name v. Name|##-####|year}} (for example: {{subst:Template:SCOTUS-case|John Doe v. Jane Doe|05-0534|2006}} )

Older case: {{subst:Template:SCOTUS-case|Name v. Name|VVV|PPP|year}} - for example: {{subst:Template:SCOTUS-case|Roe v. Wade|410|113|1973}} )

Then save the page. This will place the case in two relevant categories and produce this.

2. Infobox Then add information to the Infobox which has been added to the article. See {{SCOTUSCase}}.

3. Write the article! Keeping in mind the outline above, read the decision and whatever other information you can find and write the meat of the article itself.

4. List and categorize it Add the new article to the appropriate list and categories for cases as explained above.

5. Create redirects If a case name can be spelled out in different ways, it is useful to redirect these variations to the main article to facilitate searches for the article and prevent accidental duplications. For example, National Labor Relations Board v. Jones & Laughlin Steel Corporation is redirected from "National Labor Relations Board v. Jones & Laughlin Steel"; "National Labor Relations Board v. Jones & Laughlin Steel Company"; "National Labor Relations Board v. Jones and Laughlin Steel Co."; "National Labor Relations Board v. Jones and Laughlin Steel Corp."; "NLRB v. Jones & Laughlin Steel Corporation"; "NLRB v. Jones & Laughlin Steel"; "NLRB v. Jones & Laughlin Steel Co."; "NLRB v. Jones & Laughlin Steel Corp." The case is also redirected from two variations of its U.S. reports citation - "301 U.S. 1" and "301 US 1".

6. Article Assessment On the article's discussion page, insert the following template: {{WP SCOTUS}}. You may review the article yourself or ask others here to review it for you. Perhaps add it to the to-do list.

[edit] Resources

• List of United States Supreme Court cases - Every case article should be on this list.
• Complete list of United States Supreme Court cases - A complete list of cases is being created here.
• Category:United States Supreme Court cases - Every case article should be found in this category.
• Findlaw.com - A great resource to use when researching information on a particular case.
• LII - Cornell's Legal Information Institute, another good source for opinions
• Category:U.S. Supreme Court stubs - Supreme Court stubs
• Oyez.com - excellent place for documents - even has audio files for the arguments of more recent decisions

[edit] Examples of well-written articles

• Roe v. Wade
• Lawrence v. Texas
• Dred Scott v. Sandford
  

(Though none follow a suggested outline particularly well, all are featured articles.)

[edit] Wikipedians involved

Any wikipedian interested in helping with the project should feel free to add their name here. We also have a userbox, {{User WikiProject SCOTUS}}

1. Skyler1534 - Project founder, but now inactive
2. Jacob1207 - Formatting; Grammar and Style; Content
3. PedanticallySpeaking
4. Hephaestos
5. Neutrality - Copyediting; fact-checking; grammar; wikistyle
6. Postdlf - Case lists by term and by justice, new case articles, legal analysis, infobox information
7. --Aude - Adding and copyedit new cases, consistent with the guidelines; fact-checking
8. BD2412 - continuing to add notable old cases
9. Wikiacc (talk)
10. zenohockey - Copyediting, light fact-checking, (when I find time) working on infoboxes (or whatever they're called)
11. Jxn - occasional corrections/etc, expanding stubs, hopefully adding infoboxes/templates/whatever if we've all decided upone one.
12. User: Wikizach - can help research more info about cases and add it on to articles
13. Assawyer - general editing, fixing infoboxes, etc.
14. Eastlaw - currently adding articles on notable older cases, also doing some general editing
15. Chaser
16. Edward Lalone
17. Jhawk1024 - Adding new cases and expanding current ones
18. Ryan Luck
19. Ben Siders - will help with copyedits and grammar, spot check facts
20. RidG - back from my long absence; adding new cases and expanding stubs
21. TheronJ - general editing, infoboxes, fact checks
22. LemonSawdust - Whatever, errata, miscellany, etc.
23. MZMcBride - Infoboxes, etc.
24. Axios023 - adding pages related to criminal procedure, and particularly the death penalty, and tweaking whatever else I see needs fixing
25. Adamc714
26. Justin — opinions by Justice O'Connor and Justice Kennedy; 1st Amendment and/or 14th Amendment cases
27. Jersyko
28. <<Coburn_Pharr>> - particularly editing opinions by Justice Breyeror those dealing with Civil Rights.
29. tim4christ17 - Adding {{WP_SCOTUS}} tags to cases, starting selected First Amendment cases.
30. ShirzadianM - Developing new cases, editing cases, adding infoboxes to the plethora of cases that lack them
31. The Literate Engineer - Expanding stubs with background & facts, case histories, concurring & dissenting opinions. And adding a new case here and there.
32. Peyna - Doing what I can to help.
33. Hyphen 5 - i'm back. let me know what you want me to do!
34. Ztrawhcs - General editing, making articles more accurate, clarifying the holding.
35. Corrie2723 - writing/editing articles, less technical/computer stuff
36. Daniel Case - I'm interested in improving our libel-law coverage ... I created Milkovich v. Lorain Journal Co. (the last time SCOTUS has spoken on the subject) and greatly expanded Gertz v. Robert Welch, Inc., another important decision. I'd like to do some of the other ones .. Rosenbloom, Betts, Walker et al. I've also taken a detour to improve Jacobson v. United States (one of the few times Thomas sides against Scalia). I do a lot of things here but I'll try to help.
37. Michael - Editing cases, technical errors, etc.
38. Jay Ruggiero - Doing my best to help out
39. Stankrom - newbie who is totally into the democratic nature of wikipedia! good for general copyediting, research, and so on
40. Cdogsimmons - I'm in. If you need something to do, try improving the Complete list of United States Supreme Court cases.
41. DavidShankbone - check out my Floyd Abrams Project
42. Argyrios - taking con law at texas, checking articles on cases we're covering
43. Gronkmeister - Will do anything to help.
44. SilverStar - formatting, copyedits, fact checking when possible
45. Ashley Rovira - I want to help by researching cases, perhaps improving articles with finding references and citing works too.
46. Coemgenus. I wrote articles on the cases last term for which Alito wrote the court's opinion. I'm interesting in adding more, as time permits.
47. - crz crztalk
48. Patricknoddy
49. JCO312 20:45, 17 January 2007 (UTC) I did some work on Roper v. Simmons and am happy to do more.
50. Wooyi I am interested in Fourteenth Amendment and states' rights cases and I will do my best to improve their quality.
51. Whilding87 13:16, 11 February 2007 (UTC) Creating some case articles
52. Lord Metroid 22:10, 16 February 2007 (UTC)
53. Eggishorn 17:33, 30 March 2007 (UTC) I plan on starting with the cases listed with dead links on the Incorporation article.

[edit] Project accomplishments

The following is a list of accomplishments that are direct results of this project:

• Every Supreme Court case article on the list up to the year 2000 now has a verified case citation in the article introduction and next to the names of cases referred to within the article.
• The following case articles have been significantly expanded through the hard work of Jacob1207:
  • United States v. E. C. Knight Co., 156 U.S. 1 (1895)
  • Miller v. California, 413 U.S. 15 (1973)
  • Batson v. Kentucky, 476 U.S. 79 (1986)
  • Texas v. Johnson, 491 U.S. 397 (1989)
• Every case on the List of United States Supreme Court cases up to the year 2000 now has a uniformly formatted case citation next to it and is arranged in order. All inappropriate or nonexistent cases have been removed from the list.

[edit] Comments

Any comments regarding the project should be directed to the Talk page. Wikipedians interested in helping with the project can add their names to the list of those involved.