The website has emphasis on the court's audio of oral arguments. The website "aims to be a complete and authoritative source for all audio recorded in the Court since [...] October 1955."[1] The website also includes biographical information of both incumbent and historical justices of the Court and advocates who have argued before the court. The project's name refers to the interjection, "Oyez", that is spoken by the Supreme Court Marshal at the beginning of each argument session. The website was founded by Jerry Goldman, a research professor of law at the Chicago-Kent College of Law at Illinois Institute of Technology.
Jerry Goldman put the Oyez Project up for sale in 2016. He estimated it is "worth well over $1 million", but he hopes the buyer will not put the project behind a paywall. Harvard Law School offered to pay the project's operating costs, but not Goldman's price.[2] In July 2016, the Legal Information Institute at Cornell Law School and Justia joined IIT as sponsors.[3]
History
The Oyez Project was conceived in Chicago in the late 1980's by Jerry Goldman, a professor of political science, and initially implemented using Apple'sHyperCard software. Subsequent support from the National Science Foundation and National Endowment for the Humanities allowed the project to evolve and establish a presence on the internet.[4]
Recognition
Oyez.org is listed by the Supreme Court as an authentic, although unofficial, online source to access the court's information.[5]
Oyez.org was featured as "Website of the Week" by international broadcaster Voice of America in January 2006.[6]
NPR staff (April 24, 2013). "Once under wraps, Supreme Court audio trove now online. It's all politics". Retrieved 2013-04-24. But as of just a few weeks ago, all of the archived historical audio — which dates back to 1955 — has been digitized, and almost all of those cases can now be heard and explored at an online archive called the Oyez Project.
