The reporter of decisions of the Supreme Court of the United States is the official charged with editing and publishing the opinions of the
Supreme Court of the United States, both when announced and when they are published in permanent bound volumes of the ''
United States Reports
The ''United States Reports'' () are the official record ( law reports) of the Supreme Court of the United States. They include rulings, orders, case tables (list of every case decided), in alphabetical order both by the name of the petitioner ...
.'' The reporter is responsible for only the contents of the ''United States Reports'' issued by the
Government Printing Office
The United States Government Publishing Office (USGPO or GPO; formerly the United States Government Printing Office) is an agency of the legislative branch of the United States Federal government. The office produces and distributes information ...
, first in preliminary prints and later in the final bound volumes. The reporter is not responsible for the editorial content of unofficial reports of the court's decisions, such as the privately published ''
Supreme Court Reporter
West's National Reporter System (NRS) is a set of case law reporters for federal courts and appellate state courts in the United States. It started with the ''North Western Reporter'' in 1879 which has its origin in ''The Syllabi'' (1876, ).
Fed ...
'' and ''
Lawyers' Edition''.
By
federal statute
In the law of the United States, the Code of Laws of the United States of America (variously abbreviated to Code of Laws of the United States, United States Code, U.S. Code, U.S.C., or USC) is the official compilation and codification of the ...
, the reporter is appointed by the Supreme Court. The office is currently held by
Rebecca Anne Womeldorf
Rebecca Anne Womeldorf is an American lawyer serving as the reporter of decisions of the Supreme Court of the United States. Womeldorf was appointed in December 2020 and began her service in January 2021. She is the second woman to hold the posit ...
.
History
The first two reporters acted in an unofficial capacity. Only in 1817 did
Congress
A congress is a formal meeting of the representatives of different countries, constituent states, organizations, trade unions, political parties, or other groups. The term originated in Late Middle English to denote an encounter (meeting of ...
create the statutory office of reporter, with a $1,000 a year salary. The early reporters profited from selling the printed volumes of the reports of decisions. In 1874, Congress for the first time appropriated funds to publish the volumes of the court's opinions; from that time the report was known as the ''
United States Reports
The ''United States Reports'' () are the official record ( law reports) of the Supreme Court of the United States. They include rulings, orders, case tables (list of every case decided), in alphabetical order both by the name of the petitioner ...
'' and numbering began as if the first volume by the first reporter,
Alexander J. Dallas, was number one. The
Government Printing Office
The United States Government Publishing Office (USGPO or GPO; formerly the United States Government Printing Office) is an agency of the legislative branch of the United States Federal government. The office produces and distributes information ...
took over publication of the ''United States Reports'' in 1922. The title of court's reporter was changed to "Reporter of Decisions" in 1953, to clarify the duties of the office.
List of reporters
The 16 reporters of decisions are listed here with their tenures and the volumes of the ''United States Reports'' they edited. Through volume 90, the volumes were also known by the name of the reporter and the numbers of those "''nominative reports''" are listed after the ''United States Reports'' numbers.
See also
*
Court reporter
*
Lists of United States Supreme Court cases by volume
The following is a complete list of cases decided by the United States Supreme Court organized by volume of the ''United States Reports'' in which they appear. This is a list of volumes of ''U.S. Reports'', and the links point to the contents of e ...
*
Reporter of decisions
The Reporter of Decisions (sometimes known by other titles, such as Official Reporter or State Reporter) is the official responsible for publishing the decisions of a court. Traditionally, the decisions were published in books known as case repor ...
for similar offices in other countries
* ''
United States v. Detroit Timber & Lumber Co.''
* ''
Wheaton v. Peters
''Wheaton v. Peters'', 33 U.S. (8 Pet.) 591 (1834), was the first United States Supreme Court ruling on copyright. The case upheld the power of Congress to make a grant of copyright protection subject to conditions and rejected the doctrine of a ...
'', a dispute between two reporters that reached the Supreme Court
References
{{authority control
Supreme Court of the United States people