Path: utzoo!utgpu!attcan!uunet!husc6!bu-cs!buengc!bph From: bph@buengc.BU.EDU (Blair P. Houghton) Newsgroups: news.misc Subject: Re: U. S. Supreme Court Opinions On-Line - Can We Gateway? Message-ID: <859@buengc.BU.EDU> Date: 18 Aug 88 17:08:41 GMT References: <25634@ucbvax.BERKELEY.EDU> <794@vsi.UUCP> <283@execu.UUCP> <798@vsi.UUCP> Reply-To: bph@buengc.bu.edu (Blair P. Houghton) Followup-To: news.misc Distribution: na Organization: Boston Univ. Col. of Eng. Lines: 33 In article <798@vsi.UUCP> sullivan@vsi.UUCP (Michael T Sullivan) writes: >In article <283@execu.UUCP>, dewey@execu.UUCP (Dewey Henize) writes: >> >> Another possibility would be archiving. I don't know of anyone here that >> that would get real benefit from the decisions as they come out, although >> that could change and it might be a bit different for some sites. It would >> seem though that having the actual stuff put up and available somewhere >> so that references could be made MIGHT have some impact on a few of the more >> legalistic flames. At least, if someone claimed a Supreme Court decision in > >Nah. That's what law libraries are for. This idea couldn't replace those >and it shouldn't even try. Smilies omitted? It sounds like a great idea: online law libraries would allow instantaneous subject and keyword searches. It would keep the overhead on law firms lower (depending on how much you charge for access) since they have to pay all those clerks etc. to dig in musty tomes for obscure precedents. It would allow someone who knows as little of the real law as I do to dig around and get a little educated; then I'd have to spend a lot less time with my lawyer-proper. Supreme Court decisions' being based on the constitution itself, other Supreme Court cases, and little else, are therefore easy to argue about with your congressman. They're also more important politically than most other court decisions. Ergo they're more interesting than most court cases, and therefore the most likely choice for the start of the online library. Anyone who wants to start a Supreme-Court-decision online library has my vote. --Blair