The Free Library
443 works from the reading shelves — biographies, histories, memoirs, the justices’ own writings — that you can open tonight without spending a dollar.
The Short Answer
443 of the works cited across this site are free to read online — 373 books and 70 articles, covering every era of the Court from John Jay to the sitting bench. The largest trove is the Internet Archive (342 works), where public-domain books read instantly and in-copyright ones borrow like any library book. Add the freely published law-review literature and the public-domain shelves of Google Books and HathiTrust, and a serious reader could work through the mortal court for years at no cost.
How many of the books on The Mortal Court can I read for free?
443 of the works on the site's reading shelves — 373 books and 70 articles and essays — link to a place where you can read them free: 342 at the Internet Archive alone, the rest at the Online Library of Liberty, university law-school repositories, journal sites that publish full text, and the public-domain collections of Google Books and HathiTrust. Every link below was verified against the source.
How does "free at the Internet Archive" work?
Public-domain works read instantly. Books still in copyright circulate through the Archive's controlled digital lending: create a free account and borrow the scanned book for an hour or fourteen days, exactly like a library — because it is one. No payment, ever.
What about the Court's opinions themselves?
They are all free too — that is the quiet miracle of American law. Every opinion cited on the justices' pages (183 of them) links to full text at the Library of Congress's digitized United States Reports or at Justia. Between the opinions and this shelf, a reader could take a serious Supreme Court education without spending a dollar.
Why isn't every book on the site here?
Because most books still in print are not free, and this site never pretends otherwise. The shelves link each work to the best place to find it — a publisher, a library, a bookstore. This page collects only the ones whose best place happens to cost nothing.
The Books, Era by Era
Grouped by the era of the justice on whose shelf each work sits. Titles link straight to the free text.
I. The Founding Court (1789–1801) · 17 works
John Jay. An Address to the People of the State of New-York, on the Subject of the Constitution Agreed upon at Philadelphia, the 17th of September, 1787 (1788) · Internet Archive · shelf: John Jay
Urofsky, Melvin I., ed. Biographical Encyclopedia of the Supreme Court: The Lives and Legal Philosophies of the Justices (2006) · Internet Archive · on 110 justice shelves
Henry P. Johnston, ed. The Correspondence and Public Papers of John Jay (4 vols.) (1890–93) · Online Library of Liberty · shelf: John Jay
William Jay. The Life of John Jay: With Selections from His Correspondence and Miscellaneous Papers (2 vols.) (1833) · Internet Archive · shelf: John Jay
Hall, Kermit L., et al., eds. The Oxford Companion to the Supreme Court of the United States (2nd ed., 2005) · Internet Archive · on 108 justice shelves
Henry Flanders. The Lives and Times of the Chief Justices: John Jay and John Rutledge (Vol. 1) (1855) · Google Books · shelf: John Rutledge
Leon Friedman and Fred L. Israel, eds. The Justices of the United States Supreme Court: Their Lives and Major Opinions (1969) · Internet Archive · on 35 justice shelves
Henry Flanders. The Lives and Times of the Chief Justices: William Cushing, Oliver Ellsworth, John Marshall (Vol. 2) (1858) · Google Books · shelf: William Cushing
Kermit L. Hall & Mark David Hall, eds. Collected Works of James Wilson (2 vols.) (2007) · Online Library of Liberty · shelf: James Wilson
Frederick Horner. The History of the Blair, Banister, and Braxton Families Before and After the Revolution (1898) · Internet Archive · shelf: John Blair Jr.
James Iredell. Answers to Mr. Mason's Objections to the New Constitution, Recommended by the Late Convention (by 'Marcus') (1788) · Internet Archive · shelf: James Iredell
Griffith J. McRee, ed. Life and Correspondence of James Iredell (2 vols.) (1857–58) · Internet Archive · shelf: James Iredell
Samuel Harrison Smith & Thomas Lloyd, reporters. Trial of Samuel Chase... Before the Senate of the United States (2 vols.) (1805) · Internet Archive · shelf: Samuel Chase
Oliver Ellsworth Family Papers — Manuscript Division, Library of Congress (1762–1907) · Library of Congress · shelf: Oliver Ellsworth
William Garrott Brown. The Life of Oliver Ellsworth (1905) · Internet Archive · shelf: Oliver Ellsworth
II. The Marshall Court (1801–1835) · 19 works
Horace Binney. Memorial sketch of Bushrod Washington (1858) · Internet Archive · shelf: Bushrod Washington
Junius Davis. Alfred Moore and James Iredell, Revolutionary Patriots — address to the Supreme Court of North Carolina (1899) · Internet Archive · shelf: Alfred Moore
Samuel A. Ashe, ed. Biographical History of North Carolina from Colonial Times to the Present (1905–17) · Internet Archive · shelf: Alfred Moore
Joseph Story. A Discourse upon the Life, Character, and Services of the Honorable John Marshall, LL.D., Chief Justice of the United States of America (1835) · Internet Archive · shelf: John Marshall, Joseph Story
John Marshall. A History of the Colonies Planted by the English on the Continent of North America, from Their Settlement to the Commencement of That War Which Terminated in Their Independence (1824) · Internet Archive · shelf: John Marshall
John Marshall (written for Joseph Story; ed. John Stokes Adams). An Autobiographical Sketch (1937) · Internet Archive · shelf: John Marshall
Edward S. Corwin. John Marshall and the Constitution: A Chronicle of the Supreme Court (1919) · Internet Archive · shelf: John Marshall
Dillon, John F., ed. John Marshall: Life, Character and Judicial Services as Portrayed in the Centenary and Memorial Addresses and Proceedings throughout the United States on Marshall Day, 1901, and in the Classic Orations of Binney, Story, Phelps, Waite and Rawle (3 vols.) (1903) · Internet Archive · shelf: John Marshall
Harlow Giles Unger. John Marshall: The Chief Justice Who Saved the Nation (2016) · Internet Archive · shelf: John Marshall
Cliff Sloan and David McKean. The Great Decision: Jefferson, Adams, Marshall, and the Battle for the Supreme Court (2009) · Internet Archive · shelf: John Marshall
John Marshall. The Life of George Washington, Commander in Chief of the American Forces (5 vols.) (1804–07) · Internet Archive · shelf: John Marshall
Albert J. Beveridge. The Life of John Marshall (4 vols.) (1916–1919) · Internet Archive · shelf: John Marshall
William Johnson. Sketches of the Life and Correspondence of Nathanael Greene (2 vols.) (1822) · Google Books · shelf: William Johnson
The Jefferson–Johnson correspondence, 1822–1823 — Founders Online (1822–23) · Founders Online · shelf: William Johnson
Joseph Story. A Familiar Exposition of the Constitution of the United States: Containing a Brief Commentary on Every Clause (1840) · Internet Archive · shelf: Joseph Story
Gerald T. Dunne. Justice Joseph Story and the Rise of the Supreme Court (1970) · Internet Archive · shelf: Joseph Story
William Wetmore Story, ed. Life and Letters of Joseph Story (2 vols.; with Miscellaneous Writings, 1852) (1851) · Internet Archive · shelf: Joseph Story
Jill Norgren. The Cherokee Cases: The Confrontation of Law and Politics (1996) · Internet Archive · shelf: Smith Thompson
III. The Taney Court (1836–1864) · 16 works
Francis P. Weisenburger. The Life of John McLean: A Politician on the United States Supreme Court (1937) · Internet Archive · shelf: John McLean
Alexander A. Lawrence. James Moore Wayne: Southern Unionist (1943) · Internet Archive · shelf: James M. Wayne
Mark A. Graber. Dred Scott and the Problem of Constitutional Evil (2006) · open repository · shelf: Roger B. Taney
Charles Levi Woodbury. Memoir of Hon. Levi Woodbury (1894) · Internet Archive · shelf: Levi Woodbury
Nahum Capen, ed. Writings of Levi Woodbury, LL.D.: Political, Judicial and Literary (3 vols.) (1852) · HathiTrust · shelf: Levi Woodbury
David N. Atkinson. Leaving the Bench: Supreme Court Justices at the End (1999) · Internet Archive · shelf: Robert C. Grier, Nathan Clifford, Ward Hunt, William B. Woods
Benjamin R. Curtis Jr., ed., with George Ticknor Curtis. A Memoir of Benjamin Robbins Curtis, LL.D., with Some of His Professional and Miscellaneous Writings (2 vols.) (1879) · Internet Archive · shelf: Benjamin R. Curtis
Henry G. Connor. John Archibald Campbell: Associate Justice of the United States Supreme Court, 1853–1861 (1920) · Internet Archive · shelf: John A. Campbell
Robert Saunders Jr. John Archibald Campbell: Southern Moderate, 1811–1889 (1997) · Internet Archive · shelf: John A. Campbell
John Archibald Campbell. Recollections of the Evacuation of Richmond, April 2d, 1865 (1880) · Internet Archive · shelf: John A. Campbell
John Archibald Campbell. Reminiscences and Documents Relating to the Civil War during the Year 1865 (1887) · Internet Archive · shelf: John A. Campbell
Philip Greely Clifford. Nathan Clifford, Democrat (1803–1881) (1922) · Internet Archive · shelf: Nathan Clifford
Charles Fairman. Reconstruction and Reunion, 1864–88, Part One (Holmes Devise History of the Supreme Court, vol. 6) (1971) · Internet Archive · on 9 justice shelves
William Horatio Barnes. The Supreme Court of the United States: A Series of Biographies (1877) · HathiTrust · on 9 justice shelves
IV. Reconstruction & the Gilded Age (1864–1910) · 37 works
Samuel Freeman Miller. Lectures on the Constitution of the United States (1891) · Internet Archive · shelf: Samuel F. Miller
Charles Fairman. Mr. Justice Miller and the Supreme Court, 1862–1890 (1939) · Internet Archive · shelf: Samuel F. Miller
Samuel Freeman Miller. The Constitution and the Supreme Court of the United States of America (1889) · Internet Archive · shelf: Samuel F. Miller
Stephen J. Field. Personal Reminiscences of Early Days in California, with Other Sketches (1893) · Internet Archive · shelf: Stephen J. Field
David Donald, ed. Inside Lincoln's Cabinet: The Civil War Diaries of Salmon P. Chase (1954) · Internet Archive · shelf: Salmon P. Chase
Salmon P. Chase Papers — Manuscript Division, Library of Congress (1755–1898) · Library of Congress · shelf: Salmon P. Chase
Frederick J. Blue. Salmon P. Chase: A Life in Politics (1987) · Internet Archive · shelf: Salmon P. Chase
J. W. Schuckers. The Life and Public Services of Salmon Portland Chase (1874) · Internet Archive · shelf: Salmon P. Chase
William Strong. Two Lectures upon the Relations of Civil Law to Church Polity, Discipline, and Property (1875) · Google Books · shelf: William Strong
C. Peter Magrath. Morrison R. Waite: The Triumph of Character (1963) · Internet Archive · shelf: Morrison R. Waite
John Marshall Harlan Papers — Manuscript Division, Library of Congress (1810–1971) · Library of Congress · shelf: John Marshall Harlan
Loren P. Beth. John Marshall Harlan: The Last Whig Justice (1992) · Internet Archive · shelf: John Marshall Harlan
Malvina Shanklin Harlan. Some Memories of a Long Life, 1854–1911 (2002) · Internet Archive · shelf: John Marshall Harlan
Floyd Barzilia Clark. The Constitutional Doctrines of Justice Harlan (1915) · Internet Archive · shelf: John Marshall Harlan
William B. Woods, reporter. Cases Argued and Determined in the Circuit Courts of the United States for the Fifth Judicial Circuit (4 vols.) (1875–1883) · Internet Archive · shelf: William B. Woods
E. M. P. Brister. Centennial History of the City of Newark and Licking County, Ohio (2 vols.) (1909) · Internet Archive · shelf: William B. Woods
Ezra J. Warner. Generals in Blue: Lives of the Union Commanders (1964) · Internet Archive · shelf: William B. Woods
Joseph P. Smith, ed. History of the Republican Party in Ohio, and Memoirs of Its Representative Supporters (2 vols.) (1898) · Internet Archive · shelf: William B. Woods
United States. Supreme Court. In Memoriam: William Burnham Woods, LL.D. — Appendix, 123 U.S. 761 (1887) (1887) · Library of Congress · shelf: William B. Woods
Whitelaw Reid. Ohio in the War: Her Statesmen, Her Generals, and Soldiers (2 vols.) (1868) · Internet Archive · shelf: William B. Woods
Gray, Horace, and John Lowell. A Legal Review of the Case of Dred Scott, as Decided by the Supreme Court of the United States (1857) · Internet Archive · shelf: Horace Gray
Horace Gray. An Address on the Life, Character and Influence of Chief Justice Marshall (1901) · Internet Archive · shelf: Horace Gray
Gerald T. Dunne. Monetary Decisions of the Supreme Court (1961) · Internet Archive · shelf: Horace Gray
United States. Supreme Court. In Memoriam: Samuel Blatchford — Proceedings of the Bar and Bench of the Supreme Court of the United States, October 13, 1893 (1893) · Internet Archive · shelf: Samuel Blatchford
United States. Supreme Court. In Memoriam: Samuel Blatchford, LL.D. — Appendix, 150 U.S. 707 (1893) (1893) · govinfo · shelf: Samuel Blatchford
Harriet W. Blatchford, comp. The Blatchford Memorial (1871) · Internet Archive · shelf: Samuel Blatchford
James B. Murphy. L.Q.C. Lamar: Pragmatic Patriot (1973) · Internet Archive · shelf: Lucius Q.C. Lamar
Edward Mayes. Lucius Q.C. Lamar: His Life, Times, and Speeches, 1825–1893 (1896) · Internet Archive · shelf: Lucius Q.C. Lamar
Melville Weston Fuller Papers — Manuscript Division, Library of Congress (1794–1949) · Library of Congress · shelf: Melville W. Fuller
Willard L. King. Melville Weston Fuller: Chief Justice of the United States, 1888–1910 (1950) · Internet Archive · shelf: Melville W. Fuller
David J. Brewer. American Citizenship: Yale Lectures (1902) · Internet Archive · shelf: David J. Brewer
David J. Brewer. The United States: A Christian Nation (1905) · Google Books · shelf: David J. Brewer
Charles A. Kent, ed. Memoir of Henry Billings Brown, Late Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States (1915) · Internet Archive · shelf: Henry B. Brown
Charles A. Lofgren. The Plessy Case: A Legal-Historical Interpretation (1987) · Internet Archive · shelf: Henry B. Brown
Matthew McDevitt. Joseph McKenna: Associate Justice of the United States (1946) · Internet Archive · shelf: Joseph McKenna
V. The White & Taft Courts (1910–1930) · 59 works
Oliver Wendell Holmes. Collected Legal Papers (1920) · Internet Archive · shelf: Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr.
Jeremy Cohen. Congress Shall Make No Law: Oliver Wendell Holmes, the First Amendment, and Judicial Decision Making (1989) · Internet Archive · shelf: Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr.
Mark DeWolfe Howe, ed. Holmes–Laski Letters: The Correspondence of Mr. Justice Holmes and Harold J. Laski, 1916–1935 (1953) · Internet Archive · shelf: Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr.
Sheldon M. Novick. Honorable Justice: The Life of Oliver Wendell Holmes (1989) · Internet Archive · shelf: Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr.
Silas Bent. Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes (1932) · Internet Archive · shelf: Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr.
Mark DeWolfe Howe. Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes (2 vols.: The Shaping Years, 1841–1870; The Proving Years, 1870–1882) (1957) · Internet Archive · shelf: Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr.
Albert W. Alschuler. Law Without Values: The Life, Work, and Legacy of Justice Holmes (2000) · Internet Archive · shelf: Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr.
Felix Frankfurter. Mr. Justice Holmes and the Supreme Court (1938) · Internet Archive · shelf: Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr., Felix Frankfurter
David H. Burton. Taft, Holmes, and the 1920s Court: An Appraisal (1998) · Internet Archive · shelf: Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr., William Howard Taft
Richard A. Posner, ed. The Essential Holmes: Selections from the Letters, Speeches, Judicial Opinions, and Other Writings (1992) · Internet Archive · shelf: Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr.
Liva Baker. The Justice from Beacon Hill: The Life and Times of Oliver Wendell Holmes (1991) · Internet Archive · shelf: Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr.
Louis Menand. The Metaphysical Club: A Story of Ideas in America (2001) · Internet Archive · shelf: Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr.
Mark DeWolfe Howe, ed. Touched with Fire: Civil War Letters and Diary of Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr., 1861–1864 (1946) · Internet Archive · shelf: Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr.
Catherine Drinker Bowen. Yankee from Olympus: Justice Holmes and His Family (1944) · Internet Archive · shelf: Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr.
Charles Evans Hughes. Addresses of Charles Evans Hughes, 1906–1916 (1916) · Internet Archive · shelf: Charles Evans Hughes
Dexter Perkins. Charles Evans Hughes and American Democratic Statesmanship (1956) · Internet Archive · shelf: Charles Evans Hughes
Betty Glad. Charles Evans Hughes and the Illusions of Innocence: A Study in American Diplomacy (1966) · Internet Archive · shelf: Charles Evans Hughes
Samuel Hendel. Charles Evans Hughes and the Supreme Court (1951) · Internet Archive · shelf: Charles Evans Hughes
Charles Evans Hughes Papers — Manuscript Division, Library of Congress (1836–1950) · Library of Congress · shelf: Charles Evans Hughes
Robert F. Wesser. Charles Evans Hughes: Politics and Reform in New York, 1905–1910 (1967) · Internet Archive · shelf: Charles Evans Hughes
Charles Evans Hughes. Conditions of Progress in Democratic Government (1910) · Internet Archive · shelf: Charles Evans Hughes
Charles Evans Hughes (David J. Danelski and Joseph S. Tulchin, eds.). The Autobiographical Notes of Charles Evans Hughes (1973) · Internet Archive · shelf: Charles Evans Hughes
Charles Evans Hughes. The Supreme Court of the United States: Its Foundation, Methods and Achievements (1928) · Internet Archive · shelf: Charles Evans Hughes
Clarinda Pendleton Lamar. The Life of Joseph Rucker Lamar, 1857–1916 (1926) · Internet Archive · shelf: Joseph R. Lamar
James E. Bond. I Dissent: The Legacy of Justice James Clark McReynolds (1992) · Internet Archive · shelf: James C. McReynolds
Urofsky, Melvin I., and David W. Levy, eds. “Half Brother, Half Son”: The Letters of Louis D. Brandeis to Felix Frankfurter (1991) · Internet Archive · shelf: Louis D. Brandeis, Felix Frankfurter
Alpheus Thomas Mason. Brandeis: A Free Man's Life (1946) · Internet Archive · shelf: Louis D. Brandeis
Lewis J. Paper. Brandeis: An Intimate Biography (1983) · Internet Archive · shelf: Louis D. Brandeis
Melvin I. Urofsky and David W. Levy, eds. Letters of Louis D. Brandeis (5 vols.) (1971) · Internet Archive · shelf: Louis D. Brandeis
Melvin I. Urofsky. Louis D. Brandeis and the Progressive Tradition (1981) · Internet Archive · shelf: Louis D. Brandeis
Philippa Strum. Louis D. Brandeis: Justice for the People (1984) · Internet Archive · shelf: Louis D. Brandeis
Louis D. Brandeis. Other People's Money and How the Bankers Use It (1914) · Internet Archive · shelf: Louis D. Brandeis
Louis D. Brandeis (Osmond K. Fraenkel and Clarence M. Lewis, eds.). The Curse of Bigness: Miscellaneous Papers of Louis D. Brandeis (1934) · Internet Archive · shelf: Louis D. Brandeis
Bickel, Alexander M., ed. The Unpublished Opinions of Mr. Justice Brandeis: The Supreme Court at Work (1957) · Internet Archive · shelf: Louis D. Brandeis
Hoyt Landon Warner. The Life of Mr. Justice Clarke: A Testament to the Power of Liberal Dissent in America (1959) · Internet Archive · shelf: John H. Clarke
William Howard Taft. Liberty under Law: An Interpretation of the Principles of Our Constitutional Government (1922) · Internet Archive · shelf: William Howard Taft
William Howard Taft. Our Chief Magistrate and His Powers (1916) · Internet Archive · shelf: William Howard Taft
William Howard Taft. Popular Government: Its Essence, Its Permanence and Its Perils (1913) · Internet Archive · shelf: William Howard Taft
William Howard Taft. The Anti-trust Act and the Supreme Court (1914) · Internet Archive · shelf: William Howard Taft
Henry F. Pringle. The Life and Times of William Howard Taft (2 vols.) (1939) · Internet Archive · shelf: William Howard Taft
Paolo E. Coletta. The Presidency of William Howard Taft (1973) · Internet Archive · shelf: William Howard Taft
Jeffrey Rosen. William Howard Taft (The American Presidents Series) (2018) · Internet Archive · shelf: William Howard Taft
Judith Icke Anderson. William Howard Taft: An Intimate History (1981) · Internet Archive · shelf: William Howard Taft
Jonathan Lurie. William Howard Taft: The Travails of a Progressive Conservative (2012) · Internet Archive · shelf: William Howard Taft
George Sutherland. Constitutional Power and World Affairs (1919) · Internet Archive · shelf: George Sutherland
Joel Francis Paschal. Mr. Justice Sutherland: A Man Against the State (1951) · Internet Archive · shelf: George Sutherland
Hadley Arkes. The Return of George Sutherland: Restoring a Jurisprudence of Natural Rights (1994) · Internet Archive · shelf: George Sutherland
Alpheus Thomas Mason. Harlan Fiske Stone: Pillar of the Law (1956) · Internet Archive · shelf: Harlan Fiske Stone
Harlan Fiske Stone. Law and Its Administration (1915) · Internet Archive · shelf: Harlan Fiske Stone
Peter G. Renstrom. The Stone Court: Justices, Rulings, and Legacy (2001) · Internet Archive · shelf: Harlan Fiske Stone
Charles A. Leonard. A Search for a Judicial Philosophy: Mr. Justice Roberts and the Constitutional Revolution of 1937 (1971) · Internet Archive · shelf: Owen J. Roberts
George S. Hellman. Benjamin N. Cardozo: American Judge (1940) · Internet Archive · shelf: Benjamin N. Cardozo
Benjamin N. Cardozo. Law and Literature and Other Essays and Addresses (1931) · Internet Archive · shelf: Benjamin N. Cardozo
Benjamin N. Cardozo. The Paradoxes of Legal Science (1928) · Internet Archive · shelf: Benjamin N. Cardozo
VI. Hughes, Stone & Vinson Courts (1930–1953) · 61 works
Gerald T. Dunne. Hugo Black and the Judicial Revolution (1977) · Internet Archive · shelf: Hugo L. Black
Strickland, Stephen Parks, ed. Hugo Black and the Supreme Court: A Symposium (1967) · Internet Archive · shelf: Hugo L. Black
Virginia Van der Veer Hamilton. Hugo Black: The Alabama Years (1972) · Internet Archive · shelf: Hugo L. Black
Tony Freyer. Hugo L. Black and the Dilemma of American Liberalism (1990) · Internet Archive · shelf: Hugo L. Black
Library of Congress. Hugo LaFayette Black Papers — Manuscript Division, Library of Congress (2011) · Library of Congress · shelf: Hugo L. Black
Hugo L. Black and Elizabeth Black. Mr. Justice and Mrs. Black: The Memoirs of Hugo L. Black and Elizabeth Black (1986) · Internet Archive · shelf: Hugo L. Black
Tinsley E. Yarbrough. Mr. Justice Black and His Critics (1988) · Internet Archive · shelf: Hugo L. Black
Howard Ball and Phillip J. Cooper. Of Power and Right: Hugo Black, William O. Douglas, and America's Constitutional Revolution (1992) · Internet Archive · shelf: Hugo L. Black, William O. Douglas
Hugo L. Black, ed. Irving Dilliard. One Man's Stand for Freedom: Mr. Justice Black and the Bill of Rights — A Collection of His Supreme Court Opinions (1963) · Internet Archive · shelf: Hugo L. Black
Leonard Baker. Brandeis and Frankfurter: A Dual Biography (1984) · Internet Archive · shelf: Felix Frankfurter
Michael E. Parrish. Felix Frankfurter and His Times: The Reform Years (1982) · Internet Archive · shelf: Felix Frankfurter
Philip B. Kurland, ed. Felix Frankfurter on the Supreme Court: Extrajudicial Essays on the Court and the Constitution (1970) · Internet Archive · shelf: Felix Frankfurter
Felix Frankfurter Papers — Manuscript Division, Library of Congress (1846–1966) · Library of Congress · shelf: Felix Frankfurter
Harlan B. Phillips, ed. Felix Frankfurter Reminisces (1960) · Internet Archive · shelf: Felix Frankfurter
Melvin I. Urofsky. Felix Frankfurter: Judicial Restraint and Individual Liberties (1991) · Internet Archive · shelf: Felix Frankfurter
Helen Shirley Thomas. Felix Frankfurter: Scholar on the Bench (1960) · Internet Archive · shelf: Felix Frankfurter
Joseph P. Lash, ed. From the Diaries of Felix Frankfurter (1975) · Internet Archive · shelf: Felix Frankfurter
Clyde E. Jacobs. Justice Frankfurter and Civil Liberties (1961) · Internet Archive · shelf: Felix Frankfurter
Wallace Mendelson. Justices Black and Frankfurter: Conflict in the Court (1961) · Internet Archive · shelf: Felix Frankfurter
Felix Frankfurter. Law and Politics: Occasional Papers of Felix Frankfurter, 1913–1938 (1939) · Internet Archive · shelf: Felix Frankfurter
Jeffrey D. Hockett. New Deal Justice: The Constitutional Jurisprudence of Hugo L. Black, Felix Frankfurter, and Robert H. Jackson (1996) · Internet Archive · shelf: Felix Frankfurter, Robert H. Jackson
Felix Frankfurter (Philip B. Kurland, ed.). Of Law and Life and Other Things That Matter: Papers and Addresses of Felix Frankfurter, 1956–1963 (1965) · Internet Archive · shelf: Felix Frankfurter
Felix Frankfurter (Philip Elman, ed.). Of Law and Men: Papers and Addresses of Felix Frankfurter, 1939–1956 (1956) · Internet Archive · shelf: Felix Frankfurter
Max Freedman, ed. Roosevelt and Frankfurter: Their Correspondence, 1928–1945 (1967) · Internet Archive · shelf: Felix Frankfurter
Noah Feldman. Scorpions: The Battles and Triumphs of FDR's Great Supreme Court Justices (2010) · Internet Archive · shelf: Felix Frankfurter, Robert H. Jackson
Bruce Allen Murphy. The Brandeis/Frankfurter Connection: The Secret Political Activities of Two Supreme Court Justices (1982) · Internet Archive · shelf: Felix Frankfurter
Felix Frankfurter and James M. Landis. The Business of the Supreme Court: A Study in the Federal Judicial System (1928) · Internet Archive · shelf: Felix Frankfurter
Felix Frankfurter. The Case of Sacco and Vanzetti: A Critical Analysis for Lawyers and Laymen (1927) · Internet Archive · shelf: Felix Frankfurter
Felix Frankfurter. The Commerce Clause under Marshall, Taney and Waite (1937) · Internet Archive · shelf: Felix Frankfurter
Felix Frankfurter. The Public and Its Government (1930) · Internet Archive · shelf: Felix Frankfurter
Robert A. Burt. Two Jewish Justices: Outcasts in the Promised Land (1988) · Internet Archive · shelf: Felix Frankfurter
William O. Douglas. Go East, Young Man: The Early Years (1974) · Internet Archive · shelf: William O. Douglas
William O. Douglas. The Anatomy of Liberty: The Rights of Man without Force (1963) · Internet Archive · shelf: William O. Douglas
William O. Douglas. The Court Years, 1939–1975: The Autobiography of William O. Douglas (1980) · Internet Archive · shelf: William O. Douglas
Melvin I. Urofsky and Philip E. Urofsky, eds. The Douglas Letters: Selections from the Private Papers of Justice William O. Douglas (1987) · Internet Archive · shelf: William O. Douglas
William O. Douglas (Vern Countryman, ed.). The Douglas Opinions (1977) · Internet Archive · shelf: William O. Douglas
Vern Countryman. The Judicial Record of Justice William O. Douglas (1974) · Internet Archive · shelf: William O. Douglas
William O. Douglas. We the Judges: Studies in American and Indian Constitutional Law from Marshall to Mukherjea (1956) · Internet Archive · shelf: William O. Douglas
William O. Douglas Papers — Manuscript Division, Library of Congress (1801–1980) · Library of Congress · shelf: William O. Douglas
David Robertson. Sly and Able: A Political Biography of James F. Byrnes (1994) · Internet Archive · shelf: James F. Byrnes
Robert L. Messer. The End of an Alliance: James F. Byrnes, Roosevelt, Truman, and the Origins of the Cold War (1982) · Internet Archive · shelf: James F. Byrnes
Robert H. Jackson (Glendon Schubert, ed.). Dispassionate Justice: A Synthesis of the Judicial Opinions of Robert H. Jackson (1969) · Internet Archive · shelf: Robert H. Jackson
Robert H. Jackson Papers — Manuscript Division, Library of Congress (1816–1983) · Library of Congress · shelf: Robert H. Jackson
Robert H. Jackson (John Q. Barrett, ed.). That Man: An Insider's Portrait of Franklin D. Roosevelt (2003) · Internet Archive · shelf: Robert H. Jackson
Telford Taylor. The Anatomy of the Nuremberg Trials: A Personal Memoir (1992) · Internet Archive · shelf: Robert H. Jackson
Robert H. Jackson. The Case Against the Nazi War Criminals (1946) · Internet Archive · shelf: Robert H. Jackson
Robert H. Jackson. The Struggle for Judicial Supremacy: A Study of a Crisis in American Power Politics (1941) · Internet Archive · shelf: Robert H. Jackson
Robert H. Jackson. The Supreme Court in the American System of Government (1955) · Internet Archive · shelf: Robert H. Jackson
Fowler V. Harper. Justice Rutledge and the Bright Constellation (1965) · Internet Archive · shelf: Wiley B. Rutledge
Dunham, Allison, and Philip B. Kurland, eds. Mr. Justice (1956) · Internet Archive · shelf: Wiley B. Rutledge
Harold H. Burton Papers — Manuscript Division, Library of Congress (1792–1965) · Library of Congress · shelf: Harold H. Burton
Mary Frances Berry. Stability, Security, and Continuity: Mr. Justice Burton and Decision-Making in the Supreme Court, 1945–1958 (1978) · Internet Archive · shelf: Harold H. Burton
VII. The Warren Court (1953–1969) · 36 works
Jack Harrison Pollack. Earl Warren: The Judge Who Changed America (1979) · Internet Archive · shelf: Earl Warren
Bernard Schwartz. Super Chief: Earl Warren and His Supreme Court — A Judicial Biography (1983) · Internet Archive · shelf: Earl Warren
Lucas A. Powe Jr. The Warren Court and American Politics (2000) · Internet Archive · shelf: Earl Warren, John Marshall Harlan II
Morton J. Horwitz. The Warren Court and the Pursuit of Justice (1998) · Internet Archive · shelf: Earl Warren
Bruce Ackerman, Charles Fried, Norman Dorsen, et al. Centennial Conference in Honor of Justice John Marshall Harlan — New York Law School Law Review 36, no. 1 (1991) · open repository · shelf: John Marshall Harlan II
Kim Isaac Eisler. A Justice for All: William J. Brennan, Jr., and the Decisions That Transformed America (1993) · Internet Archive · shelf: William J. Brennan Jr.
William J. Brennan Jr. (Stephen J. Friedman, ed.). An Affair with Freedom: A Collection of His Opinions and Speeches Drawn from His First Decade as a United States Supreme Court Justice (1967) · Internet Archive · shelf: William J. Brennan Jr.
Peter Irons. Brennan vs. Rehnquist: The Battle for the Constitution (1994) · Internet Archive · shelf: William J. Brennan Jr., William H. Rehnquist
Seth Stern & Stephen Wermiel. Justice Brennan: Liberal Champion (2010) · open repository · shelf: William J. Brennan Jr.
Hunter R. Clark. Justice Brennan: The Great Conciliator (1995) · Internet Archive · shelf: William J. Brennan Jr.
Roger L. Goldman and David Gallen. Justice William J. Brennan, Jr.: Freedom First (1994) · Internet Archive · shelf: William J. Brennan Jr.
E. Joshua Rosenkranz and Bernard Schwartz, eds. Reason and Passion: Justice Brennan's Enduring Influence (1997) · Internet Archive · shelf: William J. Brennan Jr.
William J. Brennan Papers — Manuscript Division, Library of Congress (1945–1998) · Library of Congress · shelf: William J. Brennan Jr.
Whittaker, Charles E., and William Sloane Coffin Jr. Law, Order, and Civil Disobedience (1967) · Internet Archive · shelf: Charles E. Whittaker
United States Senate, Committee on the Judiciary. Nomination of Byron R. White, of Colorado, to be Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States: Hearing before the Committee on the Judiciary, United States Senate, 87th Congress, 2nd Session, April 11, 1962 (1962) · govinfo · shelf: Byron R. White
Arthur J. Goldberg Papers — Manuscript Division, Library of Congress (1793–1995) · Library of Congress · shelf: Arthur J. Goldberg
David L. Stebenne. Arthur J. Goldberg: New Deal Liberal (1996) · Internet Archive · shelf: Arthur J. Goldberg
Robert Shogan. A Question of Judgment: The Fortas Case and the Struggle for the Supreme Court (1972) · Internet Archive · shelf: Abe Fortas
Howard Ball. A Defiant Life: Thurgood Marshall and the Persistence of Racism in America (1999) · Internet Archive · shelf: Thurgood Marshall
Gilbert King. Devil in the Grove: Thurgood Marshall, the Groveland Boys, and the Dawn of a New America (2012) · Internet Archive · shelf: Thurgood Marshall
Carl T. Rowan. Dream Makers, Dream Breakers: The World of Justice Thurgood Marshall (1993) · Internet Archive · shelf: Thurgood Marshall
Mark V. Tushnet. Making Civil Rights Law: Thurgood Marshall and the Supreme Court, 1936–1961 (1994) · Internet Archive · shelf: Thurgood Marshall
Mark V. Tushnet. Making Constitutional Law: Thurgood Marshall and the Supreme Court, 1961–1991 (1997) · Internet Archive · shelf: Thurgood Marshall
Michael G. Long, ed. Marshalling Justice: The Early Civil Rights Letters of Thurgood Marshall (2011) · Internet Archive · shelf: Thurgood Marshall
Randall W. Bland. Private Pressure on Public Law: The Legal Career of Justice Thurgood Marshall (1973) · Internet Archive · shelf: Thurgood Marshall
Rawn James Jr. Root and Branch: Charles Hamilton Houston, Thurgood Marshall, and the Struggle to End Segregation (2010) · Internet Archive · shelf: Thurgood Marshall
Wil Haygood. Showdown: Thurgood Marshall and the Supreme Court Nomination That Changed America (2015) · Internet Archive · shelf: Thurgood Marshall
Mark V. Tushnet, ed. Thurgood Marshall: His Speeches, Writings, Arguments, Opinions, and Reminiscences (2001) · Internet Archive · shelf: Thurgood Marshall
Larry S. Gibson. Young Thurgood: The Making of a Supreme Court Justice (2012) · Internet Archive · shelf: Thurgood Marshall
VIII. Burger & Rehnquist Courts (1969–2005) · 58 works
Warren E. Burger. Delivery of Justice: Proposals for Changes to Improve the Administration of Justice (1990) · Internet Archive · shelf: Warren E. Burger
Warren E. Burger. It Is So Ordered: A Constitution Unfolds (1995) · Internet Archive · shelf: Warren E. Burger
Michael J. Graetz and Linda Greenhouse. The Burger Court and the Rise of the Judicial Right (2016) · Internet Archive · shelf: Warren E. Burger
Vincent Blasi, ed. The Burger Court: The Counter-Revolution That Wasn't (1983) · Internet Archive · shelf: Warren E. Burger
Herman Schwartz, ed. The Burger Years: Rights and Wrongs in the Supreme Court, 1969–1986 (1987) · Internet Archive · shelf: Warren E. Burger
Harry A. Blackmun Papers — Manuscript Division, Library of Congress (1913–2001) · Library of Congress · shelf: Harry A. Blackmun
Tinsley E. Yarbrough. Harry A. Blackmun: The Outsider Justice (2008) · Internet Archive · shelf: Harry A. Blackmun
John C. Jeffries Jr. Justice Lewis F. Powell, Jr.: A Biography (1994) · Internet Archive · shelf: Lewis F. Powell Jr.
United States Senate, Committee on the Judiciary. Nominations of William H. Rehnquist and Lewis F. Powell, Jr.: Hearings before the Committee on the Judiciary, United States Senate, 92nd Congress, 1st Session, November 3, 4, 8, 9, and 10, 1971 (1971) · govinfo · shelf: Lewis F. Powell Jr., William H. Rehnquist
Lewis F. Powell Jr. The Powell Memorandum and the Corporate Turn (1971) · open repository · shelf: Lewis F. Powell Jr.
William H. Rehnquist. All the Laws but One: Civil Liberties in Wartime (1998) · Internet Archive · shelf: William H. Rehnquist
William H. Rehnquist. Centennial Crisis: The Disputed Election of 1876 (2004) · Internet Archive · shelf: William H. Rehnquist
Sue Davis. Justice Rehnquist and the Constitution (1989) · Internet Archive · shelf: William H. Rehnquist
Stephen E. Gottlieb. Morality Imposed: The Rehnquist Court and Liberty in America (2000) · Internet Archive · shelf: William H. Rehnquist
Donald E. Boles. Mr. Justice Rehnquist, Judicial Activist: The Early Years (1987) · Internet Archive · shelf: William H. Rehnquist
United States Senate, Committee on the Judiciary. Nomination of Justice William Hubbs Rehnquist to be Chief Justice of the United States: Hearings before the Committee on the Judiciary, United States Senate, 99th Congress, 2nd Session, July 29, 30, 31, and August 1, 1986 (1986) · govinfo · shelf: William H. Rehnquist
Herman J. Obermayer. Rehnquist: A Personal Portrait of the Distinguished Chief Justice of the United States (2009) · Internet Archive · shelf: William H. Rehnquist
John A. Jenkins. The Partisan: The Life of William Rehnquist (2012) · Internet Archive · shelf: William H. Rehnquist
Tinsley E. Yarbrough. The Rehnquist Court and the Constitution (2000) · Internet Archive · shelf: William H. Rehnquist
John Paul Stevens. Five Chiefs: A Supreme Court Memoir (2011) · Internet Archive · shelf: John Paul Stevens
Kenneth A. Manaster. Illinois Justice: The Scandal of 1969 and the Rise of John Paul Stevens (2001) · Internet Archive · shelf: John Paul Stevens
Robert Judd Sickels. John Paul Stevens and the Constitution: The Search for Balance (1988) · Internet Archive · shelf: John Paul Stevens
Bill Barnhart and Gene Schlickman. John Paul Stevens: An Independent Life (2010) · Internet Archive · shelf: John Paul Stevens
John Paul Stevens. Six Amendments: How and Why We Should Change the Constitution (2014) · Internet Archive · shelf: John Paul Stevens
Nancy Maveety. Justice Sandra Day O'Connor: Strategist on the Supreme Court (1996) · Internet Archive · shelf: Sandra Day O'Connor
Sandra Day O'Connor and H. Alan Day. Lazy B: Growing Up on a Cattle Ranch in the American Southwest (2002) · Internet Archive · shelf: Sandra Day O'Connor
Sandra Day O'Connor. Out of Order: Stories from the History of the Supreme Court (2013) · Internet Archive · shelf: Sandra Day O'Connor
Joan Biskupic. Sandra Day O'Connor: How the First Woman on the Supreme Court Became Its Most Influential Justice (2005) · Internet Archive · shelf: Sandra Day O'Connor
Ann Carey McFeatters. Sandra Day O'Connor: Justice in the Balance (2005) · Internet Archive · shelf: Sandra Day O'Connor
Sandra Day O'Connor. The Majesty of the Law: Reflections of a Supreme Court Justice (2003) · Internet Archive · shelf: Sandra Day O'Connor
Antonin Scalia. A Matter of Interpretation: Federal Courts and the Law (1997) · Internet Archive · shelf: Antonin Scalia
Ralph A. Rossum. Antonin Scalia's Jurisprudence: Text and Tradition (2006) · Internet Archive · shelf: Antonin Scalia
Richard A. Brisbin Jr. Justice Antonin Scalia and the Conservative Revival (1997) · Internet Archive · shelf: Antonin Scalia
United States Senate, Committee on the Judiciary. Nomination of Judge Antonin Scalia to be Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States: Hearings before the Committee on the Judiciary, United States Senate, 99th Congress, 2nd Session, August 5 and 6, 1986 (1987) · govinfo · shelf: Antonin Scalia
Antonin Scalia and Bryan A. Garner. Reading Law: The Interpretation of Legal Texts (2012) · Internet Archive · shelf: Antonin Scalia
Antonin Scalia (Christopher J. Scalia and Edward Whelan, eds.). Scalia Speaks: Reflections on Law, Faith, and Life Well Lived (2017) · Internet Archive · shelf: Antonin Scalia
Antonin Scalia (Jeffrey S. Sutton and Edward Whelan, eds.). The Essential Scalia: On the Constitution, the Courts, and the Rule of Law (2020) · Internet Archive · shelf: Antonin Scalia
Helen J. Knowles. The Tie Goes to Freedom: Justice Anthony M. Kennedy on Liberty (2009) · Internet Archive · shelf: Anthony M. Kennedy
John G. Roberts Jr., Stephen Breyer, Kevin Newsom, et al. In Memoriam: Justice David H. Souter — Harvard Law Review 139: 454 (2025) · Harvard Law Review · shelf: David H. Souter
Andrew Peyton Thomas. Clarence Thomas: A Biography (2001) · Internet Archive · shelf: Clarence Thomas
Scott Douglas Gerber. First Principles: The Jurisprudence of Clarence Thomas (1999) · Internet Archive · shelf: Clarence Thomas
Ken Foskett. Judging Thomas: The Life and Times of Clarence Thomas (2004) · Internet Archive · shelf: Clarence Thomas
Toni Morrison, ed. Race-ing Justice, En-gendering Power: Essays on Anita Hill, Clarence Thomas, and the Construction of Social Reality (1992) · Internet Archive · shelf: Clarence Thomas
John Greenya. Silent Justice: The Clarence Thomas Story (2001) · Internet Archive · shelf: Clarence Thomas
Jane Mayer and Jill Abramson. Strange Justice: The Selling of Clarence Thomas (1994) · Internet Archive · shelf: Clarence Thomas
Kevin Merida and Michael A. Fletcher. Supreme Discomfort: The Divided Soul of Clarence Thomas (2007) · Internet Archive · shelf: Clarence Thomas
Henry Mark Holzer. The Supreme Court Opinions of Clarence Thomas, 1991–2006: A Conservative's Perspective (2007) · Internet Archive · shelf: Clarence Thomas
Jeffrey Rosen. Conversations with RBG: Ruth Bader Ginsburg on Life, Love, Liberty, and Law (2019) · Internet Archive · shelf: Ruth Bader Ginsburg
Ruth Bader Ginsburg with Amanda L. Tyler. Justice, Justice Thou Shalt Pursue: A Life's Work Fighting for a More Perfect Union (2021) · Internet Archive · shelf: Ruth Bader Ginsburg
Irin Carmon and Shana Knizhnik. Notorious RBG: The Life and Times of Ruth Bader Ginsburg (2015) · Internet Archive · shelf: Ruth Bader Ginsburg
Linda Hirshman. Sisters in Law: How Sandra Day O'Connor and Ruth Bader Ginsburg Went to the Supreme Court and Changed the World (2015) · Internet Archive · shelf: Ruth Bader Ginsburg
Stephen Breyer. Breaking the Vicious Circle: Toward Effective Risk Regulation (1993) · Internet Archive · shelf: Stephen G. Breyer
Stephen Breyer. Making Our Democracy Work: A Judge's View (2010) · Internet Archive · shelf: Stephen G. Breyer
IX. The Roberts Court (2005–present) · 9 works
Mark V. Tushnet. In the Balance: Law and Politics on the Roberts Court (2013) · Internet Archive · shelf: John G. Roberts Jr.
Jan Crawford Greenburg. Supreme Conflict: The Inside Story of the Struggle for Control of the United States Supreme Court (2007) · Internet Archive · shelf: John G. Roberts Jr.
Jeffrey Toobin. The Oath: The Obama White House and the Supreme Court (2012) · Internet Archive · shelf: John G. Roberts Jr.
Marcia Coyle. The Roberts Court: The Struggle for the Constitution (2013) · Internet Archive · shelf: John G. Roberts Jr., Elena Kagan
Laurence Tribe and Joshua Matz. Uncertain Justice: The Roberts Court and the Constitution (2014) · Internet Archive · shelf: John G. Roberts Jr.
Joan Biskupic. Breaking In: The Rise of Sonia Sotomayor and the Politics of Justice (2014) · Internet Archive · shelf: Sonia Sotomayor
Antonia Felix. Sonia Sotomayor: The True American Dream (2010) · Internet Archive · shelf: Sonia Sotomayor
Anne M. Burford with John Greenya. Are You Tough Enough? (1986) · Internet Archive · shelf: Neil M. Gorsuch
United States Senate, Committee on the Judiciary. Confirmation Hearing on the Nomination of Hon. Brett M. Kavanaugh to be an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States: Hearing before the Committee on the Judiciary, United States Senate, 115th Congress, 2nd Session, September 4, 5, 6, 7, and 27, 2018 (2020) · govinfo · shelf: Brett M. Kavanaugh
Histories of the Court
From the History of the Court reading room — the institution itself, free to read.
A. H. Garland. Experience in the Supreme Court of the United States, with Some Reflections and Suggestions as to That Tribunal (1898) · Internet Archive
Albert P. Blaustein and Roy M. Mersky. The First One Hundred Justices: Statistical Studies on the Supreme Court of the United States (1978) · Internet Archive
Alexander Charns. Cloak and Gavel: FBI Wiretaps, Bugs, Informers, and the Supreme Court (1992) · Internet Archive
Alexander M. Bickel. The Supreme Court and the Idea of Progress (1970) · Internet Archive
Alsop, Joseph, and Turner Catledge. The 168 Days (1938) · Internet Archive
Archibald Cox. The Warren Court: Constitutional Decision as an Instrument of Reform (1968) · Internet Archive
Bickel, Alexander M. The Least Dangerous Branch: The Supreme Court at the Bar of Politics (1962) · Internet Archive
Blandford, Linda A., and Patricia Russell Evans, eds. Supreme Court of the United States, 1789–1980: An Index to Opinions Arranged by Justice (2 vols.) (1983) · Internet Archive
Catherine A. Barnes. Men of the Supreme Court: Profiles of the Justices (1978) · Internet Archive
Charles A. Beard. The Supreme Court and the Constitution (1912) · Internet Archive
Charles Henry Butler. A Century at the Bar of the Supreme Court of the United States (1942) · Internet Archive
Charles L. Black Jr. The People and the Court: Judicial Review in a Democracy (1960) · Internet Archive
Charles P. Curtis Jr. Lions under the Throne (1947) · Internet Archive
Cortez A. M. Ewing. The Judges of the Supreme Court, 1789–1937: A Study of Their Qualifications (1938) · Internet Archive
Cox, Archibald. The Court and the Constitution (1987) · Internet Archive
D. Grier Stephenson. The Supreme Court and the American Republic: An Annotated Bibliography (1981) · Internet Archive
David Alistair Yalof. Pursuit of Justices: Presidential Politics and the Selection of Supreme Court Nominees (1999) · Internet Archive
David C. Frederick. Supreme Court and Appellate Advocacy: Mastering Oral Argument (2003) · Internet Archive
David P. Currie. The Constitution in the Supreme Court: The First Hundred Years, 1789–1888 (1985) · Internet Archive
Edward S. Corwin. The Twilight of the Supreme Court: A History of Our Constitutional Theory (1934) · Internet Archive
Edward S. Corwin. Court over Constitution: A Study of Judicial Review as an Instrument of Popular Government (1938) · Internet Archive
Epstein, Lee, and Jack Knight. The Choices Justices Make (1998) · Internet Archive
Ernest Sutherland Bates. The Story of the Supreme Court (1936) · Internet Archive
Fenton S. Martin and Robert U. Goehlert. The U.S. Supreme Court: A Bibliography (1990) · Internet Archive
Friedman, Leon, comp. Obscenity: The Complete Oral Arguments before the Supreme Court in the Major Obscenity Cases (1970) · Internet Archive
Friendly, Fred W. Minnesota Rag: The Dramatic Story of the Landmark Supreme Court Case That Gave New Meaning to Freedom of the Press (1981) · Internet Archive
Friendly, Fred W., and Martha J. H. Elliott. The Constitution, That Delicate Balance (1984) · Internet Archive
Garraty, John A., ed. Quarrels That Have Shaped the Constitution (1964) · Internet Archive
Haines, Charles Grove, and Foster H. Sherwood. The Role of the Supreme Court in American Government and Politics, 1835–1864 (1957) · Internet Archive
Hampton L. Carson. The Supreme Court of the United States: Its History, and Its Centennial Celebration, February 4th, 1890 (1891) · Internet Archive
Irons, Peter, and Stephanie Guitton, eds. May It Please the Court: The Most Significant Oral Arguments Made Before the Supreme Court Since 1955 (1993) · Internet Archive
James L. Gibson and Gregory A. Caldeira. Citizens, Courts, and Confirmations: Positivity Theory and the Judgments of the American People (2009) · Internet Archive
John P. Frank. Clement Haynsworth, the Senate, and the Supreme Court (1991) · Internet Archive
John P. Frank. Marble Palace: The Supreme Court in American Life (1958) · Internet Archive
Kenneth W. Goings. The NAACP Comes of Age: The Defeat of Judge John J. Parker (1990) · Internet Archive
Lazarus, Edward. Closed Chambers: The First Eyewitness Account of the Epic Struggles Inside the Supreme Court (1998) · Internet Archive
Leonard Baker. Back to Back: The Duel between FDR and the Supreme Court (1967) · Internet Archive
Lewis, Anthony. Gideon’s Trumpet (1964) · Internet Archive
Mark Silverstein. Judicious Choices: The New Politics of Supreme Court Confirmations (2007) · Internet Archive
Maurice G. Baxter. Daniel Webster and the Supreme Court (1966) · Internet Archive
McCloskey, Robert G. The American Supreme Court (1960) · Internet Archive
Michael Comiskey. Seeking Justices: The Judging of Supreme Court Nominees (2004) · Internet Archive
O’Brien, David M. Storm Center: The Supreme Court in American Politics (1986) · Internet Archive
Paul A. Freund. On Understanding the Supreme Court (1949) · Internet Archive
Pederson, William D., and Norman W. Provizer, eds. Great Justices of the U.S. Supreme Court: Ratings and Case Studies (1993) · Internet Archive
Percival E. Jackson. Dissent in the Supreme Court: A Chronology (1969) · Internet Archive
Perry, Barbara A. A “Representative” Supreme Court? The Impact of Race, Religion, and Gender on Appointments (1991) · Internet Archive
Perry, Barbara A. The Priestly Tribe: The Supreme Court’s Image in the American Mind (1999) · Internet Archive
Peter Irons. A People's History of the Supreme Court: The Men and Women Whose Cases and Decisions Have Shaped Our Constitution (1999) · Internet Archive
Peter Irons. The Courage of Their Convictions: Sixteen Americans Who Fought Their Way to the Supreme Court (1988) · Internet Archive
Phillip J. Cooper. Battles on the Bench: Conflict Inside the Supreme Court (1995) · Internet Archive
Richard Davis. Electing Justice: Fixing the Supreme Court Nomination Process (2005) · Internet Archive
Savage, David G. Turning Right: The Making of the Rehnquist Supreme Court (1992) · Internet Archive
Scalia, Antonin, and Bryan A. Garner. Making Your Case: The Art of Persuading Judges (2008) · Internet Archive
Schwartz, Bernard. A History of the Supreme Court (1993) · Internet Archive
Sheldon Goldman. Picking Federal Judges: Lower Court Selection from Roosevelt through Reagan (1997) · Internet Archive
Simon, James F. The Center Holds: The Power Struggle Inside the Rehnquist Court (1995) · Internet Archive
Timothy L. Hall. Supreme Court Justices: A Biographical Dictionary (2001) · Internet Archive
Toobin, Jeffrey. The Nine: Inside the Secret World of the Supreme Court (2007) · Internet Archive
Wagman, Robert J. The Supreme Court: A Citizen’s Guide (1993) · Internet Archive
Warren, Charles. The Supreme Court in United States History (1922) · Online Books Page
Articles & Essays, Free in Full
The scholarly literature the law schools and journals publish open to everyone — often the only serious study of a forgotten justice.
Arthur P. Rugg. "William Cushing," Yale Law Journal 30, no. 2 (1920) (1920) · open repository · shelf: William Cushing
Ross E. Davies. "William Cushing, Chief Justice of the United States" (2006) · SSRN · shelf: William Cushing
Robert R. Bair & Robin D. Coblentz. "The Trials of Mr. Justice Samuel Chase" (1967) · open repository · shelf: Samuel Chase
Stephen B. Presser. "Samuel Chase: In Defense of the Rule of Law and Against the Jeffersonians" (2009) · open repository · shelf: Samuel Chase
William R. Casto. “Oliver Ellsworth's Calvinism: A Biographical Essay on Religion and Political Psychology in the Early Republic” (1994) · open repository · shelf: Oliver Ellsworth
Mark R. Killenbeck. "William Johnson, the Dog That Did Not Bark?" (2009) · open repository · shelf: William Johnson
Meredith Kolsky Lewis. “Justice William Johnson and the History of Supreme Court Dissent” (1995) · open repository · shelf: William Johnson
Sandra F. VanBurkleo. “In Defense of ‘Public Reason’: Supreme Court Justice William Johnson” (2007) · SCHS · shelf: William Johnson
David P. Currie; Frank H. Easterbrook. "The Most Insignificant Justice: A Preliminary Inquiry" & "...Further Evidence" (1983) · open repository · shelf: Thomas Todd
Joseph Story. "Sketch of the character of [Thomas] Todd" (1852) · Internet Archive · shelf: Thomas Todd
Andrew T. Fede. “Not the Most Insignificant Justice: Reconsidering Justice Gabriel Duvall's Slavery Law Opinions Favoring Liberty” (2017) · PDF · shelf: Gabriel Duvall
Frank H. Easterbrook. "The Most Insignificant Justice: Further Evidence" (1983) · open repository · shelf: Gabriel Duvall
Unsigned; long attributed to Joseph Story. "Memoir of Judge Trimble" (1829) · Internet Archive · shelf: Robert Trimble
Paul Finkelman. "John McLean: Moderate Abolitionist and Supreme Court Politician" (2009) · open repository · shelf: John McLean
Thomas E. Carney. “The Political Judge: Justice John McLean's Pursuit of the Presidency” (2002) · Ohio History · shelf: John McLean
Austin Allen. "Jacksonian Jurisprudence and the Obscurity of John Catron" (2009) · open repository · shelf: John Catron
H. B. Brown. "The Dissenting Opinions of Justice Daniel" (1887) · Internet Archive · shelf: Peter V. Daniel
Daniel J. Wisniewski. “Heating Up a Case Gone Cold: Revisiting the Charges of Bribery and Official Misconduct Made against Supreme Court Justice Robert Cooper Grier in 1854–55” (2013) · SCHS · shelf: Robert C. Grier
Jonathan Lurie. “Mr. Justice Bradley: A Reassessment” (1986) · open repository · shelf: Joseph P. Bradley
Gabriel J. Chin. “The Plessy Myth: Justice Harlan and the Chinese Cases” (1996) · SSRN · shelf: John Marshall Harlan
George A. Christensen. “Here Lies the Supreme Court: Revisited” (2008) · SCHS · shelf: William B. Woods
Thomas E. Baynes Jr. “Yankee from Georgia: A Search for Justice Woods” (1978) · SCHS · shelf: William B. Woods
John F. Kennedy. Profiles in Courage — the Lamar chapter (1956) · Internet Archive · shelf: Lucius Q.C. Lamar
J. Gordon Hylton. “The Perils of Popularity: David Josiah Brewer and the Politics of Judicial Reputation” (2009) · open repository · shelf: David J. Brewer
Robert J. Glennon Jr. “Justice Henry Billings Brown: Values in Tension” (1973) · open repository · shelf: Henry B. Brown
Terry Calvani. “The Early Legal Career of Howell Jackson” (1977) · open repository · shelf: Howell E. Jackson
Paul R. Baier. “Edward Douglass White: Frame for a Portrait” (1983) · open repository · shelf: Edward D. White
James W. Ely Jr. “Rufus W. Peckham and Economic Liberty” (2009) · open repository · shelf: Rufus W. Peckham
Barry Cushman. “The Secret Lives of the Four Horsemen” (1997) · open repository · shelf: Willis Van Devanter
Michal R. Belknap. “Mr. Justice Pitney and Progressivism” (1986) · open repository · shelf: Mahlon Pitney
Samuel R. Olken. “Justice George Sutherland and Economic Liberty: Constitutional Conservatism and the Problem of Factions” (1997) · open repository · shelf: George Sutherland
Michael S. Ariens. “A Thrice-Told Tale, or Felix the Cat” (1994) · open repository · shelf: Owen J. Roberts
Hugo L. Black. “There Is a South of Union and Freedom” (1967) · open repository · shelf: Hugo L. Black
Todd C. Peppers. “Justice Hugo Black and His Law Clerks: Match-Making and Match Point” (2011) · open repository · shelf: Hugo L. Black
Barbara B. Christensen. “Mr. Justice Whittaker: The Man on the Right” (1979) · open repository · shelf: Charles E. Whittaker
Daniel M. Berman. “Mr. Justice Whittaker: A Preliminary Appraisal” (1959) · open repository · shelf: Charles E. Whittaker
“Proceedings in the Supreme Court of the United States in Memory of Justice Potter Stewart” (1986) · Library of Congress · shelf: Potter Stewart
“Proceedings in the Supreme Court of the United States in Memory of Justice Byron R. White” (2002) · govinfo · shelf: Byron R. White
Allan Ides. “The Jurisprudence of Justice Byron White” (1993) · open repository · shelf: Byron R. White
Dennis J. Hutchinson. “The Man Who Once Was Whizzer White” (1993) · open repository · shelf: Byron R. White
Nicholas deB. Katzenbach. “Byron White's Appointment to the Supreme Court” (1987) · open repository · shelf: Byron R. White
Robert H. Harry. “Byron White: The Practicing Lawyer” (2004) · open repository · shelf: Byron R. White
“Proceedings in the Supreme Court of the United States in Memory of Justice Goldberg” (1990) · govinfo · shelf: Arthur J. Goldberg
Arthur J. Goldberg. “Death and the Supreme Court” (1987) · open repository · shelf: Arthur J. Goldberg
Larry M. Roth. “Remembering 1965: Abe Fortas and the Supreme Court” (1977) · open repository · shelf: Abe Fortas
Carl Tobias. “Warren Burger and the Administration of Justice” (1996) · open repository · shelf: Warren E. Burger
Harry A. Blackmun. “The Marital Deduction and Its Use in Minnesota” (1951) · open repository · shelf: Harry A. Blackmun
Joseph F. Kobylka, Tony Mauro, Daniel Farber and others. “Reflections on Judging: A Discussion Following the Release of the Blackmun Papers” (2005) · open repository · shelf: Harry A. Blackmun
Lewis F. Powell Jr. “Attack on American Free Enterprise System” (1971) · open repository · shelf: Lewis F. Powell Jr.
Adam D. Chandler. “Slow and Steady: David Souter's Life in the Law” (2010) · Yale Law Journal · shelf: David H. Souter
Marc Spindelman. “Kavanaugh, Rahimi, and the Effort to Legitimate Originalism” (2025) · open repository · shelf: Brett M. Kavanaugh
Amy Coney Barrett. “Originalism and Stare Decisis” (2017) · open repository · shelf: Amy Coney Barrett
Epstein, Lee, and Eric A. Posner. What Is Oral Argument For? (2026) · SSRN
Epstein, Lee, Andrew D. Martin, Kevin M. Quinn, and Jeffrey A. Segal. "Ideology and the Study of Judicial Behavior" (2012) · Michigan Deep Blue
Epstein, Lee, William M. Landes, and Richard A. Posner. Inferring the Winning Party (2010) · author’s own site
Harlan, John M. What Part Does the Oral Argument Play (1955) · open repository
Jacobi, Tonja, and Dylan Schweers. Justice, Interrupted (2017) · open repository
Jacobi, Tonja, and Matthew Sag. The New Oral Argument (2019) · open repository
Martin, Andrew D., and Kevin M. Quinn. Dynamic Ideal Point Estimation (2002) · Martin–Quinn project
Patrick J. Glen. “Harvard and Yale Ascendant: The Legal Education of the Justices From Holmes to Kagan” (2010) · open repository
Methodology
Computed from the site’s bibliography dataset. A work appears here only when its verified link points to a free full-text source: the Internet Archive (instant reading for public-domain works, controlled digital lending with a free account for in-copyright ones), the Online Library of Liberty, university repositories and journals publishing full text, SSRN, the Supreme Court Historical Society’s digitized journal, Founders Online, the federal file servers at govinfo and the Library of Congress — or, for works published through 1928 and thus in the public domain, Google Books and HathiTrust. Publisher pages, bookstores, and gated databases never qualify. Availability can change; each entry reflects the source as verified. This page regenerates automatically as the shelves grow.