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The internet giant Google announced today that it will be offering users free access to case law from both federal and state courts. As Google puts it:

Starting today, we’re enabling people everywhere to find and read full text legal opinions from U.S. federal and state district, appellate and supreme courts using Google Scholar. You can find these opinions by searching for cases (like Planned Parenthood v. Casey), or by topics (like desegregation) or other queries that you are interested in.

A quick testdrive through Google Scholar reveals that it is geared for an educated, lay audience, and that it is not the type of resource practioners should rely on in lieu of such industry benchmarks as Westlaw and Lexis, or even such up-and-coming services like Fastcase.  If, however, one wants quick, free way to access a famous case, Google Scholar seems to do the trick with ease and simplicity.

Google describes how to access its case law features:

For example, go to Google Scholar, click on the “Legal opinions and journals” radio button, and try the query separate but equal. Your search results will include links to cases familiar to many of us in the U.S. such as Plessy v. Ferguson and Brown v. Board of Education, which explore the acceptablity of “separate but equal” facilities for citizens at two different points in the history of the U.S. But your results will also include opinions from cases that you might be less familiar with, but which have played an important role.