U.S. Supreme Court Transcripts: 1924-1954
This collection extends our selection of Pre-1968 Transcripts with even older transcripts from the U.S. Supreme Court Library and other sources, such as the “Landmark Briefs and Arguments” series.
The focus here is on cases that don’t have an audio recording (i.e, pre-1955 cases), since The Oyez Project already does a fine job providing unofficial transcripts of all tape-recorded cases argued since October 1955.
See our post on The Supreme Court Library for further discussion.
October Term 1924
October Term 1926
October Term 1934
October Term 1936
- Helvering v. Davis
- NLRB v. Jones & Laughlin Steel Corp.
- Steward Machine Co. v. Davis
- Virginian R. Co. v. Railway Employees [PDF]
July Special Term 1942
October Term 1946
October Term 1947
The Parker v. Illinois [PDF] case is interesting because it featured a pro se litigant who was also not a lawyer. It’s also unclear to what extent the Court was aware of this fact, because there’s this curious exchange near the end of the argument:
JUSTICE RUTLEDGE: Mr. Parker, I would like to ask one question and I would like to state it very carefully and have you answer it just as I put it.
MR. PARKER: Yes, sir.
JUSTICE RUTLEDGE: Does the record show – I don’t want yes or no to anything else – does this record show whether you are a member of the Bar or not?
MR. PARKER: I am not. The record shows I am not.
JUSTICE RUTLEDGE: All right.
MR. PARKER: The record shows I am not. Oh, no, I am not a lawyer.
Mr. Parker didn’t prevail (although he did garner 3 dissenting votes). And pro se non-lawyers do sometimes win, as Mr. Sloan did in SEC v. Sloan (1978). But Mr. Sloan was the last non-lawyer to argue at the Supreme Court, and ever since the Court changed its rules in 2013, non-lawyers have not been permitted to argue their own cases at the Supreme Court.
October Term 1948
October Term 1949
October Term 1950
- Hoffman v. United States [PDF]
- Radio Corp. of America v. United States [PDF]
- Rogers v. United States [PDF]
