Courts begin to use Twitter to announce release of opinions.

Over at the Legal Blog Watch, Bruce Carton has compiled a list of courts that are starting to use Twitter for various purposes, including letting the public know when decisions are released. 

My quick research as to state courts' use of Twitter in the U.S. indicated that many states are already using Twitter for various purposes, including:

• New Jersey Courts (opinions from various state courts)
• Tennessee Courts (daily digest of Tennessee appellate court opinions)
• Florida Supreme Court (opinions and news from Florida's highest court)
• Indiana Courts (opinions and news from the Indiana Judicial Branch)
• Illinois Supreme Court (opinions, audio recordings of oral arguments and more from the Illinois Supreme Court)

On the federal level, the U.S. Supreme Court is using Twitter to distribute opinions, as is the 9th Circuit and courts such as the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York. I could not find a comprehensive guide to "courts on Twitter" but it seems likely that one exists out there somewhere. If you know of such a guide, please shoot me a link to it and I'll update this post.

Continue reading here to learn about how Canadians courts have been making use of Twitter too.

(jbl).