Explore biographies of every justice who has served on the Supreme Court

Meet the 9 justices currently serving on the US Supreme Court

This resource profiles each sitting justice, detailing their legal backgrounds and career paths, and offers audio clips from oral arguments that reveal how they reason and speak from the bench.

Explore the most impactful Supreme Court cases in US history

Browse by constitutional topic to explore key rulings, their historical impact, and the legal principles they established. Each case includes a summary of the decision, along with notable excerpts from majority and dissenting opinions.

Explore the biographies and official portraits of every US attorney general since 1789

The DOJ's official archive features profiles of every attorney general in American history—from Edmund Randolph, appointed by George Washington in 1789, to the present day—including their official portraits.

Supreme Court justices serve for life

The Constitution grants Supreme Court justices lifetime appointments to shield them from electoral politics and outside pressure, a design meant to preserve judicial independence but now widely debated due to longer lifespans and partisan balances of the court.

Read SCOTUSblog for daily, nonpartisan coverage of the US Supreme Court

Founded in 2002, SCOTUSblog offers expert analysis from lawyers, professors, and journalists. The blog provides transparent, unbiased explanations of significant cases, real-time updates on decisions, and insights into court nominations and trends.

See how a US Supreme Court justice is nominated and confirmed

A president nominates a Supreme Court justice, the Senate Judiciary Committee conducts public hearings and background vetting, and the full Senate debates and votes on confirmation—a process explained step by step in this video.

Hear a narrative account of Marshall's 'simple' life and great impact

This podcast traces Marshall's rise from a frontier upbringing to chief justice, examining how a "country boy" born in a log cabin became the most important figure in the early Supreme Court.

Watch 2 Supreme Court justices debate how the Constitution should be interpreted

In a 2009 conversation, former Justices Antonin Scalia and Stephen G. Breyer lay out competing approaches to constitutional interpretation: Scalia's textualist, strict constructionism versus Breyer's evolutionary view of the Constitution in practice.

The Supreme Court term runs from October to June

The Supreme Court of the United States begins each term on the first Monday in October, alternating two-week sittings and recesses, hearing arguments mainly on Mondays through Wednesdays, and deciding which of thousands of petitions will receive full review.

Photography and video are prohibited in the Supreme Court—but artists are not

Because cameras are banned inside the Supreme Court of the United States, courtroom artists document proceedings through sketches. This exhibition features works from 1964 to today, capturing the human drama of landmark cases and shaping how Americans visualize justice.

In recent decades, Supreme Court nominations have grown increasingly contentious and partisan

This video examines the historical shift from bipartisan, civil confirmation hearings to the deeply divisive process seen today. It focuses on the 1987 nomination of Robert Bork, the most recent nominee to be rejected, as an important moment in this transformation.

A primary source timeline of US history (1600-1968)

Compiled by the Library of Congress, this archive walks through important events in US history through civil rights era, while providing primary sources to explore.

Explore a comprehensive archive of US presidential election data

This University of California, Santa Barbara archive compiles presidential election data from 1789 to the present, including popular vote totals, turnout figures, and contextual resources that explain how the electoral process and political landscape have evolved.

The opera based on the friendship of US Supreme Court Justices Ginsburg and Scalia

Former US Supreme Court Justices Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Antonin Scalia had a friendship that fascinated the country. The unsuspecting bond formed between people on two opposing ends of the political spectrum even inspired an opera titled “Scalia/Ginsburg” by composer Derrick Wang.

Read biographies of 3 generations of the Adams family

The Massachusetts Historical Society provides biographical profiles covering three generations of the Adams family—using its extensive archive of family papers and correspondence to trace one of the most notable dynasties in American political history.

Track the changes in US immigration law throughout history

This interactive timeline tracks the development of US immigration law, overlaid with time-series data on percentages of the foreign-born population. Explore how each major policy development correlated with immigration levels, revealing the relationship between legislation and demographic change.

The Washington Post's 'Presidential' podcast tells the story of every American president

Hosted by Lillian Cunningham, "Presidential" explores how each president rose to power, led through crises, and shaped the office. Featuring historians like David McCullough and journalists like Bob Woodward, the series traces leadership and legacy across American history.

The Judiciary Act of 1789 created the foundation of the federal justice system

Passed by the First Congress, the Judiciary Act of 1789 established the federal court system, the Office of the Attorney General, and the US Marshals Service—the first law concerning national law enforcement and legal administration.

Explore state-level jury data

The National Center for State Courts' interactive dashboard lets users compare jury operations across all 50 states, including eligibility exemptions, qualification procedures, and the number of peremptory challenges—the limited strikes attorneys can use to dismiss jurors without explanation—allowed in each trial.

The FBI's most famous cases

From the D.B. Cooper plane hijacking to the kidnapping of Frank Sinatra Jr. to the details about the first FBI agent killed in the line of duty, this FBI archive overviews the agency's most famous cases. Cases are organized by investigative priorities, according to the agency. Clicking any of the linked investigations takes readers to detailed articles about the cases, some of which remain unsolved.

See how the National Archives protects America's founding documents

This "60 Minutes" segment takes viewers behind the scenes at the National Archives, showcasing how experts use conservation science, security, and technology to preserve cornerstone records—such as the original Declaration of Independence—for future generations.

A short biography of Apple cofounder Steve Jobs

Steve Jobs led Apple for almost a quarter century, first from 1976 through 1985 and then from 1997 through just before his death in 2011. A brief synopsis of his career underscores the impact he made during that timespan, across everything from technology to smartphones, moviemaking, retail and much more.

View a collection of historical documents about molecular biology's history

The collection features materials related to those involved in the discovery of DNA and provides historical context for the discoveries of RNA, various viruses, and important bioproteins. The items include photographs, business correspondence, manuscripts, and scientific instruments.

Explore a NASA timeline of the entire Voyager mission

This infographic leads users through the entire Voyager mission timeline, starting at its conception and moving through launch, to each destination, and finally, the Voyagers' crossing into interstellar space.

See how faces on magazine covers have changed over time

This piece examined an archive of Time magazine containing 3,389 issues ranging from 1923 to 2014, focusing on 327,322 faces from the archive. Read what the researchers learned.

The US Constitution is widely regarded as the longest-standing written national constitution still in force—see how it has influenced rights worldwide.

Hear about the 250-year history of the United States Postal Service, complete with some of its strangest deliveries, important innovations, and the figures that made it an American institution.

Visualize the path of every solar eclipse from 1900 to 2099 and see what each looks like when observed from different locations on Earth.

See a ranking of the best (and worst) Federal Reserve Chairs since 1914 out of the 16 men and women who have held the office since.

A century of Billboard issues documenting the evolution of popular music.

Meet the 56 signers of the Declaration of Independence—most of whom didn't put pen to paper until August 2, 1776—and see their original signatures.

Search a massive database of over 4 decades of clues from the TV quiz show 'Jeopardy!'

See 33 images that became central to huge scandals, including a young Charles and Camilla, Michael Jackson's baby on a hotel balcony, and Hugh Grant's mugshot.

Explore the history, structure, and species of Australia's Great Barrier Reef with this interactive journey narrated by Sir David Attenborough.

Learn how to read a prospectus, the juicy document that any company must file with the SEC before going public.

View the ten deadliest tornadoes in US history.

Explore an interactive map built from more than 100,000 survey responses on where people find joy in their lives

Calculate how much of your tax dollars go to each federal program based on your income, filing status, and number of children

US intelligence allegedly pursued more than 600 schemes to assassinate Cuban revolutionary Fidel Castro.

Visualize how CRISPR-Cas9—a type of immune system used by single-celled organisms to attack invasive viruses—targets and makes precise changes to a gene's DNA.

The American Society of Civil Engineers' infrastructure report card gave the US a C in 2025, its highest grade since the project launched in 1998.

This real-time tracking of the hantavirus cruise ship outbreak in May 2026 offers a unique glimpse into the global reach of the outbreak and whether the virus sickened passengers and their communities around the world.

Scientists can determine Earth's past climate conditions by analyzing air trapped in microscopic bubbles within ice cores—columns of compressed snow layers that build up over hundreds of thousands of years.

Legendary architect Frank Lloyd Wright designed the SC Johnson headquarters in Wisconsin, aiming to make a cathedral-like workplace

At the beginning of the 20th century, a group of young men ate standard American food—replete with food additives like borax and formaldehyde—as part of government research to better understand food safety.

Explore a list of the 100 best novels of all time, compiled by some of the world's best living writers, including Salman Rushdie, Stephen King, and Jennifer Egan.

A Yale student wrote a profound essay about the consulting industry's influence on elite college students that was published in a book of her writing after she died in a post-graduation car accident.

The Brothers Grimm were lawyers before they were storytellers, and became interested in fairy tales as they began investigating how rules and customs had been passed down through cultures.

SpongeBob exemplifies Aristotle's philosophy for living well because he understands that happiness doesn't come from external factors like money, recognition, or power.