The Court of Federal Claims was created in 1982 to handle the trial court responsibilities of the former the United States Court of Claims. The Court's Web site posts court rules, forms, contact information, judicial bios etc. (www.uscfc.uscourts.gov).
Opinions: The Court posts its published and unpublished opinions free back to July 3, 1997. The Court's opinions are searchable on Lexis (GENFED;CLAIMS for 1856-Current), Westlaw (FEDCL for 1945-Current; FEDCL-OLD for 1856-1944) and Versuslaw (1997-Current).
Rules: The Court's posts its local rules. You can also find the court's rules rules in the Court Rules volume at the end of Title 28 in the U.S.C.A., and in the "Special Courts" section of a Court Rules volume at the end of the U.S.C.S. set.
Docket Sheets: Docket sheets are available from Pacer. For commercial providers, see "Docket Sheets."
Case Files: Documents from recent cases are available as of 2003 through the Court's Pacer site (www.uscfc.uscourts.gov/CMECF.htm). Otherwise, you can call the Clerk's Office (202-219-9657) for information or fax your request (202-219-9593) to get docket sheets, briefs, motions, orders, etc., from cases decided by the Court or its predecessors. They'll tell you the page count, bill your credit card and make the copies. You can have the copies mailed or you can arrange for a pick-up. Alternatively you can hire a document retrieval service to go to the court for you.
Older Claims Courts: From Oct. 1, 1982 until Oct. 28, 1992, the Court of Federal Claims was named the United States Claims Court. The Court's name was changed as part of the Federal Court Administration Act of 1992, Pub. L. No. 102-572" (from the Court's Web site). The opinions of the Claims Court and its predecessors are searchable on Lexis back to 1856 in the same file as opinions from the Court of Federal Claims (GENFED;CLAIMS). On Westlaw, opinions of the Claims Court and predecessor courts back to 1945 are searchable with current Court of Federal Claims opinions (FEDCL), while older opinions back to 1856 are searchable in a separate file (FEDCL-OLD).
