The USSC website is the obvious first stop for anyone who wants to keep current with the Supreme Court. In fact, this is one of the first places to look for recently issued opinions. The website design is simple and clean but unintuitive. The Sunlight Foundation has proposed a complete website redesign. You can find mock-ups of the proposed new pages here. According to the SCOTUS Blog, the Sunlight Foundation made the mock-ups after the Supreme Court asked for the power to control its own website.
From the current site you can do keep track of what's happening at the Court. You will be able to find 2009 Term opinions here and archived opinions back to the 2006 Term here. You can even find the (almost) official bound volumes - we have the official paper copies in the federal room at the Library.
Argument calendars are here, transcripts of oral arguments are here. Transcripts are now being posted very quickly. Monday's arguments are already available. There is a link to the ABA site that provides access to merits briefs. There is even a link to an Orders and Journal page where you can keep track of the Court's routine business of granting or denying certiorari.
So what's missing? (1) There are no RSS feeds, no way to be notified about events as they happen. (2) There is no real news and analysis. To be sure, there is a way to access the Questions Presented by cases accepted for hearing by the Court (just try it). But this is a long way from news and analysis. (3) There is no way to access any documents other than the merits briefs. No way to look at a petition for certiorari, no way to see the amicus briefs.
In short, the current site is functional, but only with practice, patience and perserverance. It will make you say - there has to be a better way. There is. In the next installment - BNA US Law Week...
