In the U.S. Supreme Court, a majority opinion means that at least five justices have agreed as to which party should win AND why that party should win.

“U.S.C.” is the abbreviation for “United States Code,” which is the official federal statutory code published by the United States government.

The highest court in a jurisdiction is usually referred to as the “Court of Last Repose.”

The Supreme Court Reporter (S. Ct.) is the official reporter for the United States Supreme Court opinions.

United States Law Week is a weekly slip opinion service that covers the United States Supreme Court and is published by West Publishing Company.

A “Plurality Opinion” is what we have when a majority of the justices on an appellate court agree on who should win the case, but there is no majority on why that party should win.

Federal Rules Decisions (F.R.D.) is a collection of federal court opinions not designated for publication that involve the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure (since 1939) and the Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure (since 1946).

The syllabus is an official summary of the case and even though it is prepared by an employee of the court, it is not to be considered part of the case.

The American Digest System was developed to help attorneys check the status of cases to determine its value as precedent so that attorneys would not be as likely to cite a case to a judge that had been overruled by a more recent case.

A writ of certiorari is a written order of an appellate court with discretionary jurisdiction (usually the highest court) stating that it chooses to review a lower court decision and the writ directs the lower court to produce its records for review.