Updated July 7, 2015.

Problem

• Has a Ninth Circuit case been reversed by the U.S. Supreme Court?
• Has a law from the Revised Code of Washington been declared unconstitutional by the Washington Supreme Court? 
• Has a Washington Supreme Court case been overruled in a later decision?
• Have later cases modified or limited the precedential value of a case on which you are relying?

Solution

    Use KeyCite to determine the history and status of U.S. and state court cases and statutes.

KeyCite is an online citator, similar to Shepard's. Type in a legal citation (such as 120 S.Ct. 2054; 87 Wash.App. 131; or 42 U.S.C. 1983) and KeyCite will display a history of the case and later cases and other sources that cite to that case.

KeyCite searches citations only. You cannot search by case name, popular names of acts, subjects, or keywords.

Availability

KeyCite is available to Westlaw subscribers. For information about access to Westlaw and other online legal research services, see Access to Bloomberg Law, Lexis & Westlaw.

Other Citators

The Law Library subscribes to print volumes of selected Shepard's citator series, including:

• Code of Federal Regulations Citations, KF78 .S54
• Federal Citations, KF105 .F433 (covering decisions from the Federal Reporter and the Federal Supplement)
• Federal Statute Citations, KF63 .S57 (covering the U.S. Code)
• United States Citations, KF101.1 .L383 (covering decisions of the U.S. Supreme Court in the U.S. Reports, Supreme Court Reporter, and Lawyer's Edition)
• Washington Citations, KFW45 .A222 (covering Washington State statutes and cases)

For a complete list of Shepard's citators found in the Library's Reference Area, browse the Library catalog. Some Shepard's series are no longer kept up-to-date. Always check the publication date of the print citator you are using.