Federal Law

United States Supreme Court

• Opinions (LexisOne) 1790-
• Opinions (Google Scholar) 1791-
• Opinions (Findlaw) 1893-
• Opinions (Justia) 2004-
• United States Reports vol. 502, 1991 term-
  Full-text for each volume. No search features
  
  
• Briefs 2003- (American Bar Association)
  Access by case name or argument date.
• Briefs 1999- (Findlaw)
  Arranged alphabetically by case name
• Briefs (Yale Law Library et al.)
  Selection "based on a ranking developed from citation data in historical and constitutional texts"
• Briefs Filed by the Solicitor General
  Selected briefs: 1982-1997. All briefs: July, 1998-
• Where to Find Briefs of the U.S. Supreme Court
  
  
• U.S. Supreme Court
  Includes: Court rules, Oral arguments, Docket, Orders & Journal, Bar admission, Case handling guides, etc
• History of the Court (Supreme Court Historical Soc.)
  View a timeline of justices, biographies of the current members of the court, a history of the court & information about each of the homes of the court
• On the Docket (Northwestern Univ.) 1998-
  Current listing of all cases pending before the U.S. Supreme Court, information about each case & feature stories on selected cases, links to websites relevant to the case, information provided by case attorneys, questions presented to the court, oral argument dates, and citations to lower court cases
• Oyez: U.S. Supreme Court Media
  Search cases by subject or term; retrieve an abstract of the case, list of participants, the oral argument, and the oral and written opinion. Access information about pending cases. Listen to oral arguments from 1995 to the present. Read biographical information on current and past justices. Virtually tour the U.S. Supreme Court building & play Oyez Baseball
• Supreme Court Database
  Information on Supreme Court Cases from 1953
• Web Guide to U.S. Supreme Court Research (LLRX article, 2003)

Federal Courts

• Opinions (Cornell Legal Information Institute)
• Opinions (Findlaw)
  Scroll to Case Law section
• Opinions: Circuit Court of Appeals (LexisOne)
• Opinions: US Court of Appeals (Justia)
• Opinions (Google Scholar) 1923-
  US federal district, appellate, tax and bankruptcy courts
  
  
• Court Rules (U.S. Courts)
• Federal Rules of
  • Appellate Procedure (2007)
  • Bankruptcy Procedure
  • Civil Procedure
  • Criminal Procedure
  • Evidence
    
    
• Federal Court Records on the Web (LLRX article, 2000)
  Access court documents & dockets from federal circuit, district, and bankruptcy courts. Information available on court websites or through the PACER or RACER databases
• PACER $
  Obtain case & docket information from federal circuit, district, and bankruptcy courts. Docket information includes a claims registry, a listing of parties & participants in the case, information about the suit & dollar demand, a chronology of case events, case status, types of documents filed for certain cases, judgments, and appellate court opinions. Search PACER by specific court or use the U.S. Party/Case Index
  
  
• U.S. Courts: The Federal Judiciary

Legislative Branch

• Acts / Public Laws (Thomas) 1973-
• Private Laws (Thomas) 1979-
• U.S. Statutes At Large v.1-18 (1789-1875)
• U.S. Statutes At Large v. 117 (2003)-
  
  
• Bills (Thomas)
• Current Bills by Popular Name or Subject
• History of Bills 1983-
  Information as provided in the Congressional Record Index. Includes actions that are reported in the Index & reference issue, date, and pages
  
  
• U.S. Code (Cornell Legal Information Institute)
  • Popular Name Table
• U.S. Code, Prior editions, 1991- (U.S. House)
  
  
• U.S. Constitution (Findlaw)
  See also: Constitutions
  
  
• Congressional Record (Thomas)
  
  
• Congressional Hearings
  • Hearing Transcripts
  • Hearings etc., Senate, 1983-
    Includes lists of printed & unprinted hearings
  • Live audio
  • Live & archived video
    
    
• Congressional Documents (GPO Access) 104th Cong., 1995/96- )
• Congressional Documents (Rutgers School of Law)
  Selected documents. Hearings date from the 1970's-1998.
  
  
• Congressional Research Service Reports
  • Selected CRS reports available free from: Univ. of North Texas Libraries, Open CRS, Law Librarians' Society of Washington, D.C, Thurgood Marshall Law Library, and Dept. of State. For background information, read an LLRX article.
  • LexisNexis $
    Comprehensive collection, 1830-
    
    
• U.S. Senate
  • Committee membership lists, hearing schedules & links to committee websites
  • View Senate organizational chart & hover over buttons to determine committee chairs, floor leaders, etc.; click on buttons to access related websites
  • Visit the Reference section to locate general information about the Senate & the legislative process
  • View the "Is it true that..." section to determine the truth behind some legislative rumors
• U.S. House
• Access Committee websites and Quick Links to membership lists, subcommittees, jurisdiction of committee, schedules, and hot topics in committee
• Obtain historical information for the 1st - the past session's Congress such as a congressional profile, member information, committee information, leaders & officers, legislative activities including roll call votes, and discharge petitions
• Visit the Rules & Procedures section to learn rules, precedents, and procedures of the House
• Get answers to FAQs about legislative activity, committees, and House members.
  
  
• Voting Records
  • U.S. Congress Votes Database (Washington Post)
    Database of every vote in the U.S. Congress since the 102nd Congress (1991). Browse by Congress, member, bill number etc. Display vote totals in a number of ways including by party, state, region, and gende

• Dictionaries
  • C-Span Congressional Glossary
  • Glossary of Legislative Terms

Executive Branch

• Code of Federal Regulations 1997-
• Federal Register v. 59, 1994-
• Executive Orders
• Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States (Univ. of Michigan, Hoover Admininstration, 1929- )
  Contains Presidential papers & speeches. Search individual volumes or across all volumes.
• Public Papers of the U.S. Presidents (GPO Access, 1992- )
  View photographs, papers & speeches. Access appendixes which list the President's daily schedule & meetings, presidential nominations, proclamations, executive orders, and other documents released by the Office of Press Secretary & published in the Federal Register. Search the collection by keyword.
• Statements of Policy on Non-Appropriations & Appropriations Bills 2001-
• Weekly Comp. of Presidential Documents 1993-
  
  
• Federal Agencies (Washburn Univ.)
  Links to agencies' homepage, publications, organizational charts, electronic forms administrative decisions
• CyberCemetery (Univ. of N. Texas)
  Permanent public access to publications & websites of defunct federal agencies & commissions
• Federal Administrative Decisions & Other Actions (Univ. of Virginia)
  Includes links to:
  • Board of Veterans' Appeals Decisions
  • EEOC Decisions
  • FCC Orders
  • FTC Decisions
  • FLRA Decisions
  • NLRB Decisions & Orders
  • OMB Circulars
  • OSHRC Decisions
  • Patent Decisions
  • SEC Filings
  • Social Security & Acquiescence Rulings
• U.S. Government Manual
  Information on the agencies of the legislative, judicial & executive branches, quasi-official agencies, international organizations in which the U.S. participates, boards, commissions & committees
• White House

Federal Government News

• C-Span.org
• CongressionalQuarterly.com
• The Hill: The Newspaper For and About the U.S. Congress
• Roll Call

Research Resources

• America.gov
  • Link to federal government sites by branch of government
  • Locate laws & treaties, statistical information, and overviews of U.S. government & its political system
  • Access information about American society, arts & culture, U.S. symbols, education in the U.S., economy & trade, civil rights, and geography & travel
• FindLaw
  • Link to federal government websites by branch of government, agency, board, commission & organization
  • Browse the Legal Subjects index
  • Read the U.S. Constitution, Federalist Papers & Articles of Confederation or research the lives of the founding fathers in the Constitutional Law Center
• GPO Access
  • Access official federal government publications & information
  • Locate publications by topic, by branch of government or browse an alphabetical list of resources
  • Keyword search across multiple database resources such as congressional bills, directories, documents, reports; history of bills; public & private laws; the Congressional Record; Federal Register; U.S. Government Manual; U.S. Code; and more
  • Access core documents that define the U.S. democracy
  • Find federal depository libraries or purchase federal government publications through the online bookstore
• Legal Information Institute
  • Locate federal government documents & websites
  • Access information by topic or keyword on the Law About page
  • Search & view full-text, hyperlinked versions of the U.S. Code, U.S. Constitution, Code of Federal Regulations, Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, Federal Rules of Evidence & Uniform Commercial Code
  • Use LII’s Eye on the Courts to read high profile appellate decisions and commentary on the decisions
• LexisOne: Federal Resource Center
  • Select from annotated list of websites to locate federal government information and resources such as codes & statutes; legislative, judicial, and executive resources; executive departments; independent agencies; boards & commissions; etc
  • Visit the Legal Web Site Directory to keyword search the Federal Resource Center and other LexisOne sections
• Thomas (Library of Congress)
  • Online source of federal legislative history
  • Search for the text of current &  past Congressional session's bills by
    •  bill number, keyword, subject, stage in the legislative process, date of introduction, or committee
    • browsing bill summary & status
  • Access public laws by public law number
  • Locate committee reports, roll call votes, and the schedules of the House & Senate
  • Search the Congressional Record
• USA.gov
  • Official U.S. Government gateway
  • Keyword search over 51 million federal and state web pages
  • Access laws & regulations, federal forms, statistics, federal publications, searchable databases, FOIA information, federal agency news & press releases, national libraries, and directory information & national atlas/maps in the Reference Center
  • View Frequently Asked Questions of the U.S. Government by topic or agency

Last Updated: February 8, 2010 | Up to Top