The first app, OyezToday, follows the court and its decisions, beginning with the 2010 term forward. From the developers:
OyezToday tracks the current business of the U.S. Supreme Court in the form of abstracts in all cases granted review. We share SCOTUS audio in a searchable format linked to transcripts. With a simple flip and tap, It is possible to identify and create clips of segments or turns to share and repurpose. We also make written opinions available shortly after release. This means that you neednt be tethered to a computer to read the latest decisions. We will transcribe and add opinion announcements from the 2010 Term shortly after the Court releases them to the National Archives in October. The iPad version of this app offers additional features for note-taking and highlighting. We will retain and share all of the 2010 Term content as we transition to the 2011 Term on October 3.
While I dont see a reason to constantly follow SCOTUS, appellate attorneys, con law scholars, and the like will salivate with the concise access to the decisions. Law students will love the quick cheat simplified holdings that succinctly summarize sometimes convoluted decisions.
One final cool feature of the app is the media access. If youre into listening to audio recordings of the arguments, youll love this (I cant think of a better way to improve your advocacy skills either). Although theyre somewhat large (I downloaded two at over 13 MB each), being able to plug in is pretty sweet. I can see a lot of scholars getting into this app. With a sleek design and fantastic interface, this app is a knockout.
Get it for free in the Android Market here or by searching OyezToday.
App number 2 is also SCOTUS related, although it focuses on past cases. PocketJustice is a collaboration between The Oyez Project and Justia, and looks like the Con Law casebook, condensed. The developers describe the app like this:
PocketJustice focuses on the Supreme Courts constitutional jurisprudence regardless of Term. The free version provides abstracts, voting data, searchable arguments+transcripts, and opinions in the top 100 most frequently employed cases found in con law casebooks. The FULL version of the app covers the entire corpus of 600+ cases we identified through a survey of major con law casebooks.
Theres a clean interface with content galore in this app. For cases argued after 1955, the app contains links to the archived audio of the oral arguments. Clinking on links for the Justices gives you background summaries of the Court although I did find that clinking on links to view the makeup of the Court took me to biographies of every SCOTUS Justice. This seemed to be a small glitch, based on the type of link I pressed.
With access to over 600 cases (paid version), youll never be at a loss for a quick reference. One killer feature that would have saved me some law school grief is the summarized holding. This quick cheat will certainly aid many 1L or 2L students wading through the sometimes merky, SCOTUS muck.
One drawback of the app is its lack of links to the full decision. While the summary is nice, occasionally my law professor would delve into the finite aspects of the decision. Doh! Note though, the app contains links to the decision announcements, which download from someplace in cyberspace. However, when I downloaded a couple, the announcement never opened, and I suspect got lost on my device in some random download directory. Thus, since a tech-savvy user like me doesnt want to look for it cant find it, I hold that this app lacks a link. For the developers, an auto-open feature would be useful.
At $4.99, Id suggest that you purchase the full version of the app. The access to your cases increases, plus you support a worthy organization dedicated to bringing public access to the law.
For my iOS readers, OyezToday and PocketJustice are available in the iTunes Store, with extended features.
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