Forthcoming Article on Access to the US Supreme Justices’ Papers

Susan David deMaine from the Indiana University Robert H. McKinney School of Law has published an article on the SSRN website entitled Access to the Justices' Papers: A Better Balance that will appear in a forthcoming issue of Law Library Journal.

It analyzes how US Supreme Court Justices' private papers about their work on the court are handled after they retire:

"With the exception of official court records, the papers generated by the Supreme Court justices in their work for the Court are and have always been considered private property. As a result, the justices’ treatment of these documents is idiosyncratic, ranging from outright destruction to lengthy restrictions to quick release. Adding the perspective of archivists and librarians, this paper explores the history of the justices’ papers and questions of access, the public’s interest in understanding the Court and its decisions, and the effect of the justices’ papers on scholarship and popular research. Several options for encouraging greater openness are proposed."

It is easy to register for free to SSRN to be able to download materials. It is also possible to open a PDF version of the article in a browser.