Inside the Supreme Court

Petition to Decision

Papers of Supreme Court Justices on Civil Rights Cases

David Achtenberg

Professor & Law Foundation Scholar

UMKC School of Law

Kansas City, MO 64110-2499

816-235-2382

AchtenbergD@umkc.edu

Pembaur Home
 
Blackmun
Files
 
Brennan Files
 
Marshall Files
 
Powell Files
 
White Files
 
Abbreviations
Pembaur v. City of Cincinnati

Digital Archive

 

The Blackmun Papers The Brennan Papers The Marshall Papers The Powell
Papers
The White
Papers

 

          Coverage:  This page links you to the digital archive of all the available papers of Supreme Court Justices dealing with PembaurCurrently, Pembaur papers are available for Justices Blackmun, Brennan, Marshall and Powell.   The digital archive presents the papers just as you would find them in the archives where the originals are stored.   

 

          Alternative Ways to View the Justices' Papers:  Many researchers may prefer to view the papers in chronological (rather than archival) order.  To do so, you should click here to go to the Timeline Page

 

          Examples of Digital Box and FileIn the Brennan Files page of the digital archives, Box 702 File 3 appears as shown below.  At the Library of Congress, the physical William J. Brennan Papers archive's Box 702 File 3 contains fourteen documents totaling 66 pages.  The digital "file" contains the same documents in the order that you would find them if you examined the originals in the Library of Congress's manuscript reading room.  For example, the third document (the first draft of Justice Brennan's opinion) can be accessed by clicking on the "Begins" image number (WJB 702F30003).

 

 
Box 702 File 3
Brief Description Date Begins Ends
WJB Opinon Log various WJB702F30001  
Memo WJB to WEB 12/6/1985 WJB702F30002  
WJB Opinion 1st Draft  1/9/1986 WJB702F30003 WJB702F30016
WJB Opinion 1st Draft  (2) 1/9/1986 WJB702F30017 WJB702F30030
Memo TM to WJB 1/10/1986 WJB702F30031  
Memo HAB to WJB 1/23/1986 WJB702F30032  
Memo LFP to WJB 1/23/1986 WJB702F30033  
Memo BRW to WJB 1/31/1986 WJB702F30034  
Memo WJB to SDO 2/20/1986 WJB702F30035  
BRW Concurrence 1st Draft  2/20/1986 WJB702F30036 WJB702F30038
WJB Opinion 3rd Draft  2/21/1986 WJB702F30039 WJB702F30054
Memo WHR to LFP 2/27/1986 WJB702F30055  
LFP Dissent 3rd Draft  2/27/1986 WJB702F30056 WJB702F30065
Memo WEB to LFP 2/28/1986 WJB702F30066  
 

 

 

While the justices have files dedicated to particular cases, they also have files where they kept particular types of document for all the cases decided in a particular term.  For example, Justice Brennan maintained "Docket Files" which contained his hand-written notes on certiorari and merits conferences, i.e., the meetings during which the Court discussed and voted on each case.  Since each of these files contained notes on various cases, the digital version of the file only includes the documents related to Pembaur.  For example, the digital "Docket File" below (Box 692 File 1) contains Brennan's notes only on the various certiorari conferences and the merits conference at which Pembaur was discussed.

 

  Box 692 File 1  
  Brief Description Date Begins Ends  
  WJB Docket (vote record) various  WJB692F100001    
  WJB Conference Notes 12/4/1985 WJB692F100002 WJB692F100004  

 

 

         

          Abbreviations:  I have abbreviated the names of the justices, their clerks, and a few other persons.    A key to all abbreviations that can be accessed by clicking the abbreviations button in the yellow navigation area.      

 

          Higher Resolution Copies:  Most of the documents are presented in comparatively small pdf files which should be adequate for most uses.  Please let me know if you think that any particular image needs to be replaced with a higher resolution version.  I will also be happy to send higher resolution copies (or original JPEGs) of any images to anyone who needs them.  For further information about how the documents were photographed, edited and converted to pdf files, click here to go to the Image Creation and Conversion Protocol Page

 

          Sources and Citation:  For an explanation of how to determine the original archive location of any document, click here to go to the Document Source Page.