SCOTUSBlog v. US Law Week – Throwdown

This is the culmination of a week’s worth of blog posts comparing various ways of staying current with the USSC and focusing in on the two big contenders: BNA’s United State Law Week and SCOTUSBlog.

Although we took a fairly close look at the official USSC website itself there is no way that it can be in the running for the best source of current information. It is simply too clunky, too old-fashioned, with no Web 2.0 features, and no analysis or commentary.

So how do the two real contenders stack up in the four most relevant categories for staying current?

US Law Week – Supreme Court Today -
Fee: yes
Access to Documents: limited to opinions, orders, docket, calendar, merits briefs
Updates: by email
Analysis: post-decision

SCOTUSBlog and Wiki -
Fee: none
Access to Documents: everything in the file including petitions and amicus briefs
Updates: RSS feed, as often as they post (daily)
Analysis: both pre- and post-decision

So, despite the fact that US Law Week is probably the most reliable source (after all, as Tom Goldstein would say, a blog is just a blog) the features on SCOTUSBlog make it the best choice for staying current. The pre-argument analysis is on point and access to all of the documents is priceless. When you factor in the cost – well, there really is no contest.

But, since we are all lawyers here, consider these caveats and disclaimers. SCOTUSBlog has only been in existence a short time; US Law Week has been in it for the long haul. Does reliability count? You bet. And, for overall research of past USSC decisions Law Week absolutely beats SCOTUSBlog. Law Week’s backfile of decisions, bolstered with a human-generated index makes Law Week a legitimate research source.

Smart researchers will continue to use both because they are both worth watching. Not unlike these two guys in rubber suits slugging it out for world dominance: