HeinOnline: Judges and the Judiciary

CONTENT HeinOnline’s revamped and expanded iteration of Congress and the Courts, rebranded as Judges and the Judiciary, launched in the fall of 2023. This resource offers a comprehensive examination of the actions and oversight of the courts at state and federal levels. This updated version also provides insight into the structural and philosophical issues faced by the courts, which is a new and welcome combination not seen elsewhere.

The database features over 3,500 titles, 6,767 volumes, and more than 2 million pages, including reports, publications, rules, hearings, serials, and histories from legislative and judicial sources. Resources are drawn from the Congressional Research Service, the Government Accountability Office, the Federal Judicial Center Archive, Federal Rules, Congressional hearings, and more. Featured materials include Congress and the Courts: A Legislative History, 1787–2018 by Bernard D. Reams Jr. et al., government documents, hearings, and reports, periodicals, articles, and essential books related to the United States judiciary. Additionally, the collection features links to other related HeinOnline content, such as the SCOTUS history of nominations, CFR Title 28, and U.S. Code Titles 18 & 28.

Notably, the module includes nearly 700 new titles covering non–Article III courts, expanding educational and research materials available in these fields. Such comprehensive coverage will surely appeal to users in multiple research disciplines, particularly those focusing on law and history, as a tool to increase judicial understanding.

USABILITY HeinOnline continues to provide basic and advanced searching with facets that enable quick linking to full-text documents. The database also offers subject-coded searching for targeted searches; new subjects include “Appellate Courts,” “Judicial Ethics,” “Court Reform,” “United States Courts of Appeals,” and more. Advanced searching promotes comprehensive content searches by allowing users to narrow queries with specific facets—for instance, comments and chapters, or document types such as the various agencies. Within advanced search, users can search the catalogue for MARC 21 records, the citation navigator, or the Fastcase lookup tool to satisfy various research styles and needs.

“Helpful Features” under the scholarly articles tab is the bibliographic coupling and citation analysis function connecting the HeinOnline content. This tool enables researchers to find seminal resources on any given topic by citation frequency. Like all of HeinOnline’s modules, a Springshare LibGuide has been created to assist users with the specific resource.

PRICING The resource is available to non-law libraries and academics for a one-time perpetual-access price of $3,950 or a first-year subscription of $395 with an annual renewal of $95 a year. Law schools and other organizations have a subscription option with a first-year subscription of $740 and an annual renewal of $275 a year. 

VERDICT This overhauled version of Congress and the Courts lives up to its promise, providing a broader contextual foundation to analyze judiciary systems and actions. The improved search functions and expanded document scope make this resource a must-have for libraries or organizations supporting researchers, lecturers, and students seeking a deeper understanding of the U.S. court system.