Mercer Law Library Legal Resources

United States Constitution - Presented by the Cornell Legal Information Institute.

United States Constitution - Current & historical texts from the Law Library of Congress.

United States Constitution: Analysis and Interpretation - Analysis and Interpretation: Annotations of Cases Decided by the Supreme Court of the United States - Presented by GPO Access.

Federal Legislation

U.S. Code

United States Code - Presented by the Cornell Legal Information Institute.  Search by U.S. Code citation, Popular Name, or Key Word. A new update feature has been added for a code section. Simply click the updates link to the right of a code section, and if there were any changes to the code section since the official USC was last released, there will be a link to the Public Law affecting your statute via GPO Access. In addition, Cornell has recently added RSS Feeds for the U.S. Code (for Titles only).

United States Code - From GPO Access. Search by U.S. Code citation, Popular Name, Public Law Number, Statutes at Large citation. When a section of the U.S. Code is affected by a law passed after a supplement's revision date, the header for that section includes a note that identifies the public law affecting it. In order to find the updated information, you must search the public laws databases for the referenced public-law number.

Click on Search Tips for further assistance.

United States Code Classification Tables - The Office of the Law Revision Counsel of the U.S. House of Representatives provides tables that show where recently enacted laws will appear in the United States Code and which sections of the Code have been amended by those laws. The tables are sorted in either Public Law order or Code section order and only include those provisions of law that have been classified to the Code. Coverage currently is back to 1995, the 104th Congress, 1st Session (P.L. 104 - ).

If you search the classification table for a code section and find that a later public law has affected it, you must search the public laws database on either THOMAS or GPO Access to retrieve the full text of the public law.

Search Prior Versions of the United States Code - On HeinOnline from 1925 in PDF.

Search Prior Versions of the United States Code - Presented by the Office of the Law Revision Counsel of the U.S. House of Representatives. The earliest U.S.C. edition available on this site is from 1988.

Search Prior Versions of the United States Code Annotated - On Westlaw from 1990.

Search Prior Versions of the United States Code Service - On Lexis from 1992.

Note: Missing Code Sections: If you have a citation for a code section that seems to be "missing," check the "Revised Titles" section at the end of the USCS to see if it has been renumbered.



Public & Private Laws

THOMAS - Full-text of all public laws and bill summary and status information from the 100th Congress ( 1987-88) forward. Bill summary and status for all public laws from 93rd Congress (1973-74) through the 100th Congress (1987-88).

GPO Access - Contains the text of public and private laws from the 104th Congress 1995-1996 forward. Beginning with the 110th Congress (2007-2008), the laws are digitally signed and certified to assure users the online documents are official and authentic.

Westlaw - contains the text of public laws from 1973 to 2004 in the US-PL-OLD database. Contains current public laws in US-PL database.

Lexis - contains the text of public laws from 1988 (100th Cong - PUBLAW).

United States Statutes at Large - HeinOnline contains the text of public and private laws from 1789 - 2006 in its U.S. Statutues at Large Library (restricted to the Mercer Law School community.)

United States Statutes at Large - available on Westlaw from 1789-1972 in PDF .

United States Statutes at Large - available on Lexis from 1789 - present in PDF.

United States Statutes at Large - The eighteen volumes from the Law Library of Congress cover the public and private laws of the first forty-three Congresses 1789-1875. Information can be browsed or searched by keyword. Actual, quick loading images of the pages are available.


U.S. Congressional Bills

Bills - THOMAS - full text of bills from the 101st Congress 1989-90 forward; bill summary and status available from the 93rd Congress (1973-74) forward.

Bills - GPO Access - full text of bills from the 103rd Congress 1993-1994 forward; also contains history of bills & resolutions from 1983.

LexisNexis Congressional - tracks congressional bills in full text from the beginning of 1989 (101st Congress) and selected earlier materials from 1983 (98th Congress).

Lexis - contains bill texts from 1989 (101st Congress); BLTRCK, BLT105, etc.

Westlaw - contains bill texts from 1991 (104th Congress); US-BILLTRK and BILLTRK-OLD.

U.S. Serial Set - historical - Bills and resolutions begin in the House with the 15th Congress (1817) and in the Senate with the 30th Congress (1847). For these bills, the researcher may consult the bill's number in the index of the appropriate Journal (House or Senate) to determine the ultimate fate of the proposed legislation. Documents before 1817 may be found in the American State Papers. Note: Only a small selection of documents are available at this time.

House - A recently spruced-up House site provides quick access to Representative and Committee sites along with a tool to find your own Congressional mouthpiece (Zip +4). Other resources include "currently on the floor," access the laws of the United States," "find a bill, amendment or debate," and "find vote information."

Senate - Links to senators' websites, committee membership listings, a legislative activities page with information regarding current pending business; calendars, and information about visiting the Senate.

C-Span: Congressional Directory - Guide to current congressional committees, leadership positions, key phone numbers, etc. If you search for a Senator or Representatives by name, you will get a picture, contact, committee and background information. You will also get election information including PAC contributions. You can also link to key votes, staff information and press releases.

Congressional Directory - Directory information from GPO Access. Previous congressional directories are also available from the 104th Congress (1995-1996) forward.

U.S. Congress Votes Database - This site created by the Washington Post is a deep database of every vote in the United States Congress since the 102nd Congress (1991). It lets you browse votes in a variety of ways -- both in aggregate and for individual members of Congress. Browse the database by drilling down to a particular Congress (e.g. 109th Congress) or to a particular member (e.g. 109th Congress senators). This site publishes an RSS feed of recent votes by each member of Congress, and a feed of the most recent votes in both chambers.

GovTrack - GovTrack brings together information on the statuts of federal legislation, voting records, and campaign contributions. The site automatically tracks legislative events and categorizes them into thousands of subjects, such as abortion, firearms control or immigration. Includes a new "Legislative Analysis Community Blog."

Federal Legislative History

Bill Versions and Status

THOMAS - contains the full text of bills from 1989 (101st Congress) forward; bill summaries and status for legislation introduced from 1973 (93rd Congress).

GPO Access - contains the full texts of bills from 1993 (103rd Congress); has history of bills & resolutions from 1983 (98th Congress) with dates and page numbers from 1993.

HeinOnline - U.S. Congressional Documents Library contains the daily edition of the Congressional Record from 1994 - 2008, and its predecessors in PDF pages from 1789 - 1913. The bound official edition is from 1873-1951 and 1963 - 2003. There is also a Congressional Record Daily Edition Locator to the permanent bound version of the Congressional Record from Jan 25, 1994 - Nov. 23rd, 2003. Tip on searching for bills and resolutions in the Congressional Daily Index using HeinOnline.

LexisNexis Congressional - tracks congressional bills in full text from the beginning of 1989 (101st Congress) and selected earlier materials from 1983 (98th Congress).

Lexis - contains bill texts from 1989 (101st Congress); BLTRCK, BLT105, etc.

Westlaw - contains bill texts from 1991 (102nd Congress); US-BILLTRK and BILLTRK-OLD.

Lexis Legislative Impact Tutorial (2008) - "Legislative Impact" will detail the law’s impact when enacted, how the law has been amended since it was enacted and which Bills currently pending in Congress could further amend the law in question.


Public Laws (including Statutes at Large)

THOMAS - Full-text of all public laws and bill summary and status information from the 100th Congress ( 1987-88) forward. Bill summary and status for all public laws from 93rd Congress (1973-74) through the 100th Congress (1987-88).

GPO Access - Contains the text of public and private laws from the 104th Congress 1995-1996 forward. Beginning with the 110th Congress (2007-2008), the laws are digitally signed and certified to assure users the online documents are official and authentic.

Westlaw - contains the text of public laws from 1973 to 2004 in the US-PL-OLD database. Contains current public laws in US-PL database.

Lexis - contains the text of public laws from 1988 (100th Cong - PUBLAW). You can use GET A DOCUMENT and type the public law citation, e.g., 107 P.L. 110 to retrieve not only the public law but also the legislative history documents associated with it.

United States Statutes at Large - HeinOnline contains the text of public and private laws from 1789 - 2006 in its U.S. Statutues at Large Library (restricted to the Mercer Law School community.)

United States Statutes at Large - available on Westlaw from 1789-1972 in PDF .

United States Statutes at Large - available on Lexis from 1789 - present in PDF.

United States Statutes at Large - The eighteen volumes from the Law Library of Congress cover the public and private laws of the first forty-three Congresses 1789-1875. Information can be browsed or searched by keyword. Actual, quick loading images of the pages are available.

Lexis Legislative Impact Tutorial (2008) - "Legislative Impact" will detail the law’s impact when enacted, how the law has been amended since it was enacted and which Bills currently pending in Congress could further amend the law in question.


Hearings

GPO Access - contains full-text hearings from 1997 (105th Congress) forward.

LexisNexis Congressional - contains selected hearings from 1988 (100th Congress) forward.

Lexis - contains most prepared statements from 1993 (103rd Congress) forward, and selected transcripts from 1988.
Search: Legal tab > Legislation & Politics > U.S. Congress > Committee Hearing Transcripts > Congressional Hearings Summaries.

Westlaw - contains most prepared statements from 1996, and selected transcripts of hearings from 1993 (103rd Congress) forward.
Search: Directory > Legislative History > U.S. Congressional Testimony. Database is USTESTIMONY.

House.gov - Committee pages contain transcripts of hearings from 1997 (105th Congress) forward.

Senate.gov - Committee pages have most all prepared testimony from 1997 (105th Congress) forward.

Congressional Hearings from Law Library of Congress - digitized collection of select hearings in PDF format freely available to the public. Collection continues to expand.

C-SpanArchives.org - has audio and video coverage of most hearings from1987.



Committee and Conference Committee Reports

LexisNexis Congressional - contains full-text House and Senate Committee Reports from 1993 (103rd Congress), enacted bills and public laws from 1969 (91st Congress). If a document is not availabe in full text, an abstract will provide a summary with the CIS number to locate the full text on microfiche in the third floor library CIS microfiche collection. Available only to members of the Mercer legal community.

THOMAS - contains the full text of House and Senate Committee Reports from 1993 (103rd Congress - in html). Conference committee reports are from 1995 (104th Congress) forward.

GPO Access -contains full text House and Senate Committee Reports from 1993 (103rd Congress - in text and PDF). Conference Committee Reports are available from the 109th Congress, 1st and 2nd sessions. forward.

House. gov - contains transcripts of committee reports from 1997(105th Congress) forward, in PDF.

Lexis - contains all committee reports, beginning in 1990.
Search: Legal tab > Federal Legal-U.S. > FIND Statutes, Regulations, Administrative materials & Court Rules > Legislative Histories Materials > Committee Reports.

Lexis also has CIS Legislative Histories (1970 forward, with links to abstracts of hearings/reports 1984 forward, to C.R. pages 1985 forward, to bill texts 1989 forward, and to committee reports 1990 forward; Full Text of reports begin in 1988)).
Search: Legal tab > Federal Legal - U.S. > FIND Statutes, Regulations, Administrative Materials & Court Rules > Legislative History Materials > CIS Legislative Histories. Type in the name of an act or key search terms. May need to use FOCUS to add "legislative history" in your search result to include only those results that have the search term "Included in Legislative History." Use date restrictions to find legislative history documents before the date of enactment of the law (not after the law was enacted). For example, to retrieve legislative history documents for the original enactment of the U.S. Patriot Act, restrict from 9/11/2001 - 11/1/2001.

Westlaw - Westlaw's USCCAN database carries selected committee reports ( LH database) from 1948 (80th Congress) to present. It also contains Presidential Signing Statements. From January 1990 to present , the database contains all congressional committee reports, including reports on bills that did not become law.

HeinOnline - has selected histories of significant Acts in its Federal Legislative History Library.

Congressional Documents - Rutgers School of Law - a searchable online collection of U.S. Congressional hearings, documents, and prints scanned from their collection from 1970 to 1998. It currently holds 7,128 documents in PDF.

U.S. Serial Set - historical - Full-text of selected House and Senate documents and reports beginning with the 23rd Congress (1833-35) through the 64th Congress (1915-17). Bills and resolutions begin in the House with the 15th Congress (1817) and in the Senate with the 30th Congress (1847). For these bills, the researcher may consult the bill's number in the index of the appropriate Journal (House or Senate) to determine the ultimate fate of the proposed legislation. Selected documents before 1817 may be found in the American State Papers. Note that the Law Library does not contain full text of ALL HISTORICAL congressional documents in its microform collection. Library does have 89th Cong. (1965-66), 90th Cong. (1967-68), and 91st Cong. (1969-70) in Mfiche 2996 (Third Floor).



Committee Prints

GPO Access - contains most committee prints from 1997 (105th Congress) forward; some prints can also be found on web pages maintained by individual House and Senate committees.

LexisNexis Congressional - contains committee prints from 1993 (103rd Congress).

Open CRS - publishes reports, including congressional committee prints, by the Congressional Research Service, that previously were distributed only to members of Congress. Indexes more than 12,976 Congressional Research Service reports, and can be searched by keyword.



Congressional Record - Floor Debates, bill actions, votes, remarks

THOMAS - contains the daily Congressional Record from 1989 (101st Congress) in html, forward. Daily edition only. Search by keyword, member of Congress, section, date or session, and index subject.

FDsys - FDsys contains the daily edition of the Congressional Record from volume140 (1994) to the present. At the back of each daily issue is the "Daily Digest," which summarizes the day's floor and committee activities.

GPO Access - contains the daily edition from 1994 (103rd Congress). The bound permanent edition, which is the official record, and which provides continuous pagination, is available for only 1999 through 2000, although GPO Access will continue to expand coverage.
NOTE: The law library contains a hardcopy set of the permanent bound edition of the Congressional Record from 1964, volume 101, to 1980, volume 126, in Third Floor Storage. Microfilm is from 1873, volume 1, to 1964, volume 110, and Microfiche is from 1980 to 2002, volume 148 ]. HeinOnline (see below) also contains the bound edition from 1873 - 2004.

HeinOnline - U.S. Congressional Documents Library contains the daily edition of the Congressional Record from 1994, and its predecessors in PDF pages from 1789 - 1913. The bound official edition is from 1873- 2004. There is also a Congressional Record Daily Edition Locator to the permanent bound version of the Congressional Record from Jan 25, 1994 - 2009. Access the most current volume of the Congressional Record on the FDsys Website. Tip on searching bills and resolutions in the Congressional Daily Index using HeinOnline.

Westlaw - contains the daily edition from 1985 (99th Congress)

Lexis - contains the daily edition from 1985 (99th Congress).




Congressional Record - Floor Debates - Historical


Congressional Record (historical) - Full-text for the 43rd Congress only (1873-75).

Congressional Globe (historical) - covers the 23rd through 42nd Congresses (1833-73).

Register of Debates (historical) - summary of the "leading debates and incidents" covers the 18th Congress, 2nd Session through the 25th Congress, 1st Session (1824-37).

Annals of Congress (historical) - contains mostly newspaper accounts of debates; covers the 1st Congress through the first session of the 18th Congress (1789-1824).

HeinOnline - contains the Annals of Congress, the Register of Debates, and the Congressional Globe in its U.S. Congressional Documents Library.

The law library contains a hardcopy set of the permanent bound edition of the Congressional Record from 1964, volume 101, to 1980, volume 126, in Third Floor Storage (Microfilm from 1873, volume 1, to 1964, volume 110, and Microfiche from 1980 to 2002, volume 148).



Presidential Statements

Compilation of Presidential Documents on FDsys (Federal Digital System by GPO) - The Compilation of Presidential Documents collection consists of the "Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents" and the "Daily Compilation of Presidential Documents" which are the official publications of materials released by the White House Press Secretary. Suggested Citation Form: Daily Comp. Pres. Docs., 2009 DCPD No. 00001, p.3. The citation is to material published in the Daily Compilation of Presidential Documents in the year 2009, in the first document, on page three.

GPO Access - contains the Federal Register from 1994, Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents from 1993, and Public Papers of the Presidents from 1992 - text in PDF.

Lexis - contains presidential statements from March 1979.
Search: Legal tab > Federal Legal-U.S. > Executive Branch Materials > Public Papers of the Presidents.

Westlaw - contains presidential statements in the USCCAN database (USCCAN-MSG) from 1986, in the PRES-DAILY database from 1993, and from 1995 in the Weekly Compilation of the Presidential Documents.
Search: Directory > U.S. Federal Materials > Other Administrative and Executive Materials > Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents.

HeinOnline - HeinOnline's U.S. Presidential Library includes such titles as Messages and Papers of the Presidents, Public Papers of the Presidents, CFR Title 3 (Presidents), Weekly Compilation of the Presidential Documents, and other documents related to the president. Coverage varies; check HeinOnline's U.S. Presidential Library for exact dates of coverage.



Additional Sources of Legislative Information

Graphical Statutes on Westlaw – integrated source for legislative history documents

Lexis Legislative Impact Tutorial (2008) - Legislative Impact service will detail the law’s impact when enacted, how the law has been amended since it was enacted and which Bills currently pending in Congress could further amend the law in question.

HeinOnline publishes a Federal Legislative History Library database that includes the legislative histories of a number of significant pieces of United States legislation.  Hein also publishes an online edition of Sources of Compiled Legislative Histories.

Congressional Research Service (CRS Reports) - An online archive provided by the University of North Texas Libraries of many searchable, full-text CRS reports that have been available on a variety of different websites since 1990. Includes subject access. The Open CRS Network, a project of the Center for Democracy & Technology, also provides convenient access to many CRS reports that are already in the public domain. A comprehensive list of CRS reports related to IP, Commerce and Technology are purchased from Penny Hill Press and provided for free at Franklin Pierce Law Center. An additional source for free and fee based reports is available form LLSDC.

Federal Legislative History Research: A Practitioner's Guide to Compiling the Documents and Sifting for Legislative Intent - Very detailed and thorough guide from the Law Librarians' Society of Washington, D.C., Inc. Includes links to other legislative history guides.

Legislative Histories of Selected U.S. Laws on the Internet - expanded site from the Law Librarians' Society of Washington, D.C., Inc. which encompasses almost all commercial as well non-commercial (free) Federal legislative histories available on the Internet. These commercial histories (Lexis, Westlaw, and HeinOnline)  are listed alphabetically by the short title of the public law and then in public law number order.






Federal Regulations


Federal Register


Federal Register - 1994 forward, including today's issue, through GPO's Federal Digital System (FDsys). Contains proposed, new, and amended regulations.

Federal Register -1994 forward, official text, through GPO Access . Contains proposed, new and amended regulations.

Federal Register - 2000 forward in XML format from Data.Gov.

Federal Register - 1936 forward in PDF through HeinOnline. Since July 2009, the Federal Register has been updated daily on HeinOnline, meaning that Hein reprints the regulation the same day it has been issued by GPO. Restricted to Mercer Law School Community.

Federal Register - 1936 forward in PDF through Westlaw in the FR-OLD or FR-ALL database.

Federal Register - July, 1980 forward on Lexis in EXEC;FEDREG.

Regulations.gov - contains proposed regulations by department/agency where interested parties can submit comments

Unified Agenda - Also known as the Semiannual Regulatory Agenda, the Unified Agenda is published twice a year in the Federal Register. It summarizes the rules and proposed rules that each Federal agency expects to issue during the next six months.




Code of Federal Regulations

Code of Federal Regulations - 1996 forward through GPO Access. The CFR is the subject arrangement (codification) of the final regulations published in the Federal Register. Search by keyword or browse. Updated annually on GPO Access according to CFR Titles. (Lexis and Westlaw are updated daily but they are usually one week to ten days behind - see e-CFR below for most current version.)

Code of Federal Regulations - current code on Westlaw in CFR database; for older codes, use the year, e.g., CFR84(from 1984). Westlaw also contains Regulations Plus, an integrated source for regulations, cases, administrative decisions, statutory authority, and related Federal Register content. Researchers can also validate the currency of a particular regulation, and link to archival versions of the CFR and Federal Register. Regulations Plus is accessible in the left frame of the results screen of a particular regulation.

Code of Federal Regulations - current code on Lexis in GENFED;CFR; for older codes, use the year, e.g., CFR81(from 1981).

e-CFR - Most current version of the Code of Federal Regulations from GPO Access. It is updated daily and is usually only one or two days behind. While e-CFR is not the official legal version of the CFR, it can give you a heads up to recent changes.

Regulations.gov - a one-stop website to find, view, and comment on proposed federal regulations and other federal actions. GPO Access also contains a link to this website in the left frame of the CFR main page.

Code of Federal Regulations (historical) - 1938 forward- in PDF through HeinOnline. Restricted to the Mercer law school community.

Code of Federal Regulations (historical) - 1984 - 2005 on Westlaw in the "Code of Federal Regulations - Historical" database. Database identifier is CFR plus the year, i.e., CFR05.

Code of Federal Regulations (historical) - 1996 forward- from GPO Access.

To track final and pending federal regulations freely through RSS feeds, try the following two options:

Justia Regulation Tracker - create an RSS feed of new proposed and/or final regulations, limited by agency, agency department and keyword. For example, create a feed for OSHA regulations concerning cranes used in construction.

OpenRegulations.org - create an RSS feed by agency. While you can not limit by key word, you can use an easy filtering tool such as Feed Sifter to limit your feed results.

Federal Administrative Procedure Act

Federal Administrative Procedure Act (APA) CHAPTER 5 - ADMINISTRATIVE PROCEDURE - from Cornell Legal Information Institute. The APA governs the way in which administrative agencies of the United States federal government may propose and establish regulations. The APA also sets up a process for federal courts to directly review agency decisions.

Federal Administrative Procedure Act (APA) CHAPTER 7 - JUDICIAL REVIEW - from Cornell Legal Information Institute.

Federal Administrative Procedure Act (APA) (1944-1946) - Presented by HeinOnline. Restricted to Mercer Law School Community.

Federal Administrative Procedure Act - Overview and history of the Act from Wikipedia (free online encyclopedia),



Federal Agency Decisions

There is no single source, online or in print, which collects and publishes decisions from all administrative agencies. Some agencies publish all of their decisions; others are selective. The following are sources which can be used to locate decisions from a particular agency:

The Bluebook contains a list of official reporters which contain administrative decisions. (Not all agencies have an official reporter; if not, they rely on commercial publishers to publish their decisions. )

Looseleaf services in various legal specialites can be use to locate administrative decisions and informal opinions. You can use the library catalog and do a keyword search, e.g. labor, and then limit the results [Limit Search] to "Looseleafs." Check also Legal Looseleafs in Print, Reference KF1.S722 to determine if a looseleaf service is available for a particular field of administrative law.

The website of a particular agency may also contain the full text of its decisions.

Lexis - search topical areas of law to determine if the law is subject to agency regulation, or search separate databases for opinions. Lexis also has a database Federal Agency Decisions, Combined, FEDAGN.

Westlaw - search topical areas of law to determine if the law is subject to agency regulation, or search separate databases for opinions. Westlaw also has a database Federal Administrative Materials All, FADMIN-ALL.

GPO Access - provides links to where decisions are posted, including those from the Federal Labor Relations Authority, Merit Systems Protection Board, National Labor Relations Board, National Mediation Board, and the Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission.

University of Virginia Law Library - web page provides links to federal administrative decisions and other actions, arranged by subject or by agency name.

Pace Law School Library - useful website with links to locating administrative decisions, opinions and other agency documents on the web.

Federal Agencies Directory - Comprehensive and searchable site with links to federal government agencies. Presented by the Louisiana State University Libraries.

U.S. Government Manual - GPO Access contains U.S. Government Manual with current background and contact information, including web addresses for federal government agencies and international organizations. Historical infromation back to 1995.

U.S. Government Manual -historical - HeinOnline contains the U.S. Government Manual from 1935 in the Federal Register Library. Useful for historical information about federal government agencies , including international organizations, boards, commissions, and committees.



Updating Agency Decisions

Many federal agency decisions can be KeyCited on Westlaw or Shepardized on Lexis to determine the validity of an administrative decision as well as identify other cases and decisions that cite to a particular decision.






Federal Courts

U.S. Supreme Court

Official Supreme Court Website Decisions from 2003 - The Supreme Court's home page contains recent opinions and merit briefs (NOT amicus briefs). Since October, 2006, the court reporter of the United States Supreme Court has provided transcripts of the oral arguments on the day of the argument. These transcripts are considered "official" but subject to final review. Also available on the Court's website are calendars of oral arguments, court rules, and information about cases on the Court's docket. Supreme Court hotline for opinion announcements is available at 202-479-3360.

Supreme Court Decisions from 1990 - Cornell - Decisions from 1990 to the present, made available by the Cornell Legal Information Institute. Arranged by topic, party name, docket number and key word. Over 600 of the Court's most important decisions throughout its history are also included.

Supreme Court Decisions from 1893 - Findlaw - Full text of all decisions from 1893 (starting with 150 U.S. Reports) to the present. Browse by volume or year, retrieve by citation, or search for party names or key words.

Supreme Court Briefs from 1999 - Findlaw - Briefs (both Merit and Amicus) with links to Docket Sheets and full text of opinions. Includes petitioner, respondent, reply and amicus briefs in multiple formats. The briefs are organized by first-party case name.

Supreme Court Briefs from 1870 - Westlaw (password required) - Selected briefs and Petition for Writs back to 1870. Amicus Briefs from 1995 forward and Merit Briefs from 1990 forward are in SCT-BRIEF. Selected coverage for granted petitions from 1990 and denied petitions from 1995 are in SCT-PETITION.

Note: U.S. Supreme Court Records and Briefs are available on microfiche on third floor library from 1940 forward.

Supreme Court Practice by Robert L. Stern, KF9056.S84, is a detailed account of the current rules and procedures, including courtroom etiquette, to be followed when practicing before the U.S. Supreme Court.

Oral Argument Transcripts from 2000 - U.S. Supreme Court website.

Oral Argument Transcripts - Oyez Project - The OYEZ Project contains taped oral arguments in Real Audio or MP3 files of all recorded arguments since 1995. Before 1995, the audio collection is selective. Presented by Northwestern University.

Supreme Court Decisions by Email - This service of the Cornell Legal Information Institute provides summaries of new Supreme Court opinions by e-mail, within hours of their issuance.

Solicitor General Briefs - Briefs submitted to the Supreme Court by the Solicitor General from 1998-present, as well as selected historical briefs from 1982-present.

Preview - BNA's U.S. Law Week contains a link to Surpeme Court Today, a searchable database with daily updates, allowing users to view the status of and search summaries of certiorari petitions filed since the 1995 October Term. The database also contains the full text of Supreme Court opinions, oral argument schedules, selected oral argument summaries, annual reviews of the Court's decisions, and more.

Preview - "On the Docket" from Northwestern's Medill School of Journalism provides previews of upcoming Supreme Court cases, a story on each case, additional feature stories on selected cases, links to Web sites relevant to the cases, information provided by attorneys and parties in the cases, the dates for scheduled oral arguments, and the questions presented to the Court. Coverage from 1998-99 - present.

Preview - Supreme Court Preview from the American Bar Association includes an analysis of the issues, arguments, background and significance of every case slated for oral argument in the Supreme Court. Also includes briefs for the current term. NOTE: There is a subscription fee to get all of the cases.

Preview - In 2004, the Cornell LII added a preview service which explores cases currently before the U.S. Supreme Court. See also the Cornell Chronicle article on the new project.

SCOTUSblog - published by Akin, Gump, Strauss, Hauer and Feld, this blog provides commentary on cases pending before the U.S. Supreme Court as well as recent decisions. This site also provides links to briefs, transcripts, opinions and dockets. RSS feeds, automatically alerting you to new posts, are available; also includes and Annual Report of Supreme Court Statistics.

SCOTUSwiki - a companion site to SCOTUSblog, this includes a case index and category index, a compilation of statistics dating back to the October 1995 term, and a Watchlist that allows registered users to track new developments for a specific case.



U.S. Court of Appeals

Court of Appeals Decisions -This page from the Cornell Legal Information Institute provides links to databases of available opinions from all federal circuit courts of appeal. Not all federal appellate level opinions are available on the Internet. Scroll to "Court Opinions > Law by source or jurisdiction" in left frame.

U.S. Courts - Federal Judiciary Home Page - Official news and information about United States federal courts.  Directories of local court web pages, employment opportunities, official publications, and additional links. Presented by the Federal Administrative Office of the United States Courts.

U.S. Courts - Map & Directory - Clickable map provides links, arranged by circuit, to all official federal court home pages.  Presented by the Federal Administrative Office of the United States Courts.

U.S. Courts - Understanding the Federal Courts - Guide to the federal court system, presented by the Federal Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts.


U.S. District and Bankruptcy Courts

U.S. District and Bankruptcy Courts - Scroll to "Court Opinions" and "Law by source or jurisdiction" in left frame. Presented by Cornell Legal Information Institute.

U.S. District Courts - Presented by the Federal Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts.

PACER (http://pacer.psc.uscourts.gov) -
Most recent federal court documents are available via the PACER system. Public Access to Court Electronic Records (PACER) is an electronic public access service that allows users to obtain case and docket information from Federal Appellate, District and Bankruptcy courts. However, users must pay a fee to access PACER - much to the consternation of those who believe that government information should be free.

Free public access to PACER is currently provided in Federal courthouses (see the clerk of courts).

FreeCourtDockets (http://freecourtdockets.com) - FreeCourtDockets is a new, free service which allows anyone to retrieve federal civil, criminal, and bankruptcy court dockets. The site is the product of Courtport LLC, but is ad-sponsored. No PACER account is required to view the dockets, but if you wish to view the filings for a case, a PACER account is needed. To retrieve all court dockets except U.S. Supreme cases, you must first obtain an invitation code. To request a free code, you'll need to complete a form on the FreeCourtDockets website.

RECAP (https://www.recapthelaw.org/) - While RECAP isn't technically a tool for locating court documents, it is a useful PACER add-on for Firefox users. Essentially what RECAP does is archive the documents that you view in PACER and then make them available to other RECAP users at no charge. For a glimpse of RECAP in action, watch the short video available on their website. See the features page for more information

Justia Federal District Court Filings and Dockets Free public access to recently filed U.S. District Court civil cases from Justia.com. Search by party name, jurisdiction, type of lawsuit, and date range. There is a link to the docket via paid PACER subscription. Links to blog, news, and web searches for each party name are also available. RSS feeds are also available for search results i.e., if you want to monitor all federal district court cases litigated on IP law since a particular date, you can subscribe to that feed.

Federal Forms from U.S. Courts - Over 126 civil and criminal forms, including complaints, summons, warrants, petition for Writ of Habeas Corpus, and many more, for use in the U.S. District Courts.



Federal Court Rules

There are two major treatises on federal court rules and court practice:

1. Wright & Miller, Federal Practice & Procedure - Useful multi-volume treatise for any kind of federal rules research and federal procedure. Organized by the various rules and contains annotations and discussion. Updated by pocket parts. Reference collection. Also on Westlaw, database FPP.
2. Moore's Federal Practice - Very similar to Wright and Miller as far as content, but organized topically, rather than by rule. A looseleaf updated by page inserts. Reference collection. Also on Lexis, database is GENFED;MOORES.

Federal Court Rules on the web:

Federal Rules of Evidence - Presented by the Cornell Legal Information Institute.

Federal Rules of Civil Procedure - Presented by the Cornell Legal Information Institute.

Federal Rules of Appellate Procedure with forms, - Presented by the U.S. House of Representatives Committee on the Judiciary.

Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure - Presented by the Cornell Legal Information Institute.

United States Supreme Court Rules - Easily accessible court rules in HTML format presented by the Cornell Legal Information Institute. The U.S Supreme Court website contains the rules in pdf format.

Federal Rules of Bankruptcy Procedure - Presented by the Cornell Legal Information Institute.

Current rules are also available at the House Judiciary Committee's Procedural Documents page and at GPO's House Committee on the Judiciary: Committee Prints page.

• Federal Rules of Appellate Procedure
• Federal Rules of Civil Procedure
• Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure
• Federal Rules of Evidence

 

Print: Court rules are also available in the print annotated codes, United States Code Service and United States Code Annotated. The evidence, civil procedure and appellate rules, including U.S. Supreme Court Rules, are published in an appendix to Title 28 of the USCA. The Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure are published in an appendix to Title 18 of the USCA. The Federal Rules are also published in the Court Rules volumes of USCS.


Georgia Federal Court Rules on the web:

U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Georgia - Local Rules

U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Georgia - Local Rules

U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Georgia - Local Rules

U.S. Bankruptcy Court Southern District of Georgia - Local Bankruptcy Rules (currently under revision 3/08)

U.S. Bankruptcy Court Middle District of Georgia - Local Bankruptcy Rules

U.S. Bankruptcy Court Northern District of Georgia - Local Bankruptcy Rules



Other Federal Local Rules - Links to many federal district courts with on-line local rules.

Court Rules, Forms & Dockets - This site from LLRX.com includes links to over 1,400 sources for state and federal court rules, forms and dockets.

Executive Orders & Presidential Documents

Compilation of Presidential Documents on FDsys (Federal Digital System by GPO) - The Compilation of Presidential Documents collection consists of the "Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents" and the "Daily Compilation of Presidential Documents" which are the official publications of materials released by the White House Press Secretary. Suggested Citation Form: Daily Comp. Pres. Docs., 2009 DCPD No. 00001, p.3. The citation is to material published in the Daily Compilation of Presidential Documents in the year 2009, in the first document, on page three.

Title 3, The President, of the Code of Federal Regulations - Title 3, The President, of the Code of Federal Regulations is an official publication of executive orders and presidential proclamations. Scroll down to Title 3. Available on GPO Access.

Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents on GPO Access - The "Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents" is an official publication of presidential documents. It is availabe on GPO Access from 1993 forward. It contains executive orders, proclamations, speeches, reorganization plans, statements regarding bill signings and vetoes, acts approved by the President and other presidential documents.

Weekly Compilation of Presidential Document on HeinOnline - HeinOnline contains the "Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents" from 1965 forward in the Federal Register Library. Available only to Mercer Law School Community.

Public Papers of the Presidents - Available on GPO Access. Coverage is from 1991 forward.

Public Papers of the Presidents - From "The American Presidency Project." Coverage begins with Herbert Hoover, 1929 forward. "Messages and Papers of the Presidents from 1789-1913."

Public Papers of the Presidents - Available on HeinOnline in the "U.S. Presidential Library." Coverage begins with George Washington.

Public Papers of the Presidents on Lexis - Contains the full text of the Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents and the annually produced Public Papers of the Presidents. Password restricted.

U.S. Attorney General Opinions

U.S. Attorney General Memoranda and Opinions - Coverage is from 1992 forward. Presented by the U.S. Department of Justice Office of Legal Counsel.

U.S. Attorney General Opinions - Retrospective coverage from HeinOnline. Includes opinions from 1791-1982 and from 1977-1996 and for the year 1877. Available to only the Mercer Law School Community.



Additional Federal Resources


The Federal Judges Biographical Database - The Federal Judges Biographical Database contains the service record of all judges who have served on the U.S. District Courts, the U.S. Courts of Appeals, and the Supreme Court since 1789.

Federal Judicial Center - The FJC is the education and research organization for the federal courts. This site contains the results of Center research on federal court operations and procedures and court history, as well as selected educational materials produced for judges and court employees.

Federal Sentencing Guideline Manual 2006 - effective November 1, 2006 from the U.S. Sentencing Commission website. The guideline is available in different formats: HTML, PDF, and PDA. It is also available in print in the USCS, Appendix to Title 18, and in the USCA, last volume of Title 18.

U.S. Department of Justice - Legal Briefs.

Library of Congress: Guides - Includes guides to understanding United States law and links to substantive materials.

Century of Lawmaking for a New Nation - expanding collection of digitized historical U.S. Congressional documents from the Library of Congress.





State Laws


50 State Surveys

50 State Statute Survey - The National Conference of State Legislatures provides a topical, alphabetical survey of state statutes on biotechnology, criminal justice legislation, eminent domain, health, environmental protection, labor and employment laws, and much more.

50 State Statute Survey - Westlaw provides comparative surveys of state statutes covering numerous topics. Password restricted.

50 State Regulation Survey - Westlaw provides comparative surveys of state regulations covering controversial topics of law. In addition to the REGSURVEYS database, the survey are accessible from the 50 State Surveys tab. The 50 State Regulatory Surveys are also linked from specific regulations that are cited in a survey. Password restricted.

Subject Compilation of State Laws: An Annotated Bibliography by Cheryl Rae Nyberg, Reference KF1.F67 - this print source is divided into various legal topics and provides citations to legal publications where multi-state information can be found.

National Survey of State Laws, edited by Richard Leiter, KF386.N38 - Published every three years, this print source summarizes the law on various topics for each of the fifty states, including citations to the state's code.



Additional websites for finding state laws:

Georgia Resources - Comprehensive links to Georgia laws from Mercer Law Library.

Law Library of Congress: Guides - Scroll to "U.S. States & Territories."

WashLaw: Legal Research on the Web - Provides a comprehensive listing of state courts and other helpful state-related links. Presented by Washburn University Law School.

FindLaw - Contains state cases, codes, statutes and regulations.

Cornell Legal Information Institute - State statutes organized by topic.

Cornell Legal Information Institute - Scroll to "Court Opinions > Other States: Opinions" in left frame.

Law Librarians' Society of Washington D.C. (LLSDC) - State legislatures, state laws, and state regulations - web site with links and telephone numbers.

State Court Websites - from the National Center for State Courts (NCSC).

State Court Statistics - from the NCSC.

State Court Structure Charts - (map of each state court structure from the NCSC - click on a state to view its court system).

National Conference of Commissioners on Uniform Laws

National Conference of State Legislatures

Court Rules, Forms & Dockets - This site from LLRX.com includes links to over 1,400 sources for state and federal court rules, forms and dockets.

Municipal Codes - From Municipal Code Corporation. Includes city and county codes where available.

Municipal Codes - Limited selection from Lexis Municipal Codes Web Library.




Attorney & Bar Directories

Attorney Locate
AttorneyFind
FindLaw's Find A Lawyer
Martindale-Hubbell Directory of Law Firms - home page. Browse Law Firms in Martindale Directory.
NALP Directory of Legal Employers
NALP OnLine
New Lawyer - a network of attorney's located across the United States who offer free consultations. Students are also able to create profiles on the website which may be a good option to network with professionals.
WashLaw Directory of Law Firms by State
WashLaw Directory of International Law Firms
Canadian Lawyers & Law Firms
Patent Attorney Directory
Georgia Attorneys
ABA Market Research on Law Firms and Lawyers -The American Bar Association provides statistical information about law firms and the legal profession.

American Bar Association
State Bar of Georgia
State & Local Bar Association Directory - Compiled by the ABA.
Worldwide Bar Associations from Hieros Gamos

Citation Manuals, Abbreviations & Legal Dictionaries

Citation Manuals

ALWD Citation Manual - Appendices and charts.
Basic Legal Citation - By Peter W. Martin.

Georgetown Law Library's Bluebook Guide

University of Chicago Manual of Legal Citation - competitor to the Bluebook and ALWD, its 2010 edition is now freely available online.


Legal Abbreviations

Bluebook Abbreviations of Law Review Titles
Cardiff Index to Legal Abbreviations - Cardiff University in Wales provides a search by title or by abbreviation covering world legal abbreviations.
Monash University - Monash University in Australia also provides a comprehensive list of world legal abbreviations, including U.S. cites.

Legal Dictionaries

Findlaw's Legal Dictionary
Harvard 1L Dictionary
Black's Law Dictionary - on Westlaw (password required).




Legal News, Blogs, Podcasts & RSS Feeds

Legal News

ABA Journal eReport
Law.com
beSpacific.com
CNN's Law Center
FindLaw's Legal News and Commentary
JURIST's The Paper Chase
Lexis One's Headline Legal News
National Law Journal
NPR Legal Affairs
WashLaw Collection of News Sources: General & By Area of Law Practice


Blogs:
Blawgs.org - A directory of law and legal related weblogs organized by categories and popularity.
LiveJournal and Blogger.com - Services where you can create and publish your own blog for free. On Blogger.com, simply register (anonymously if you like), choose a layout, type your first post, and click "publish."
Wikipedia - Online open source encyclopedia which lists more than 20 writing and publishing tools you can use to start a blawg.
Between Lawyers - Five seasoned attorneys offer their thoughts and opinions on a wide variety of legal topics.
Law Firm Blogs: Hip or Hype?

Leiter's Law School Reports
The Volokh Conspiracy
Prawfsblawg
Opinio Juris
Concurring Opinion


Podcasts:
Podcasts - A podcast is a new method for delivering audio content using RSS. The audio content is delivered as a mp3 file that can be downloaded to your computer.

Podcasting News

Legal Talk Network


CALI Radio - Each week, CALI posts a podcast from law faculty on understanding key cases and tips on mastering different areas of the law.


RSS Feeds:
RSS Tutorial for Content Publishers & Webmasters
RSS News Feeds for Law


RSS Readers & News Aggregators
Bloglines - Bloglines is an inexpensive choice for an RSS reader.
Feedreader
Sharpreader
NewsGator
RSS Reader

Statistical Information

Statistical Abstract of the United States - from the U.S. Census Bureau website.
USA Statistics in Brief
Historical Statistics of the United States - from colonial times to 1970 in PDF.
Sourcebook of Criminal Justice Statistics
Bureau of Labor Statistics
Bureau of Labor Statistics News Releases - includes latest releases of statistics.
County and City Data Book - provides information about U.S. cities, examining median incomes, population size, unemployment, public transportation, and other items. Cities are compared to each other and ranked. Available through the U.S. Census Bureau website.
FedStats - searchable statistics from over 70 government agencies.
Directory of International Statistics Agency Websites - Available through the U.S. Census Bureau website.
State Data Centers - clickable map of state data centers.
Statistical Resources on the Web - comprehensive portal to U.S. and international statistics from the University of Michigan Documents Center. Organized by topic.
State Court Statistics - from the National Center for State Courts.
Federal Judicial Caseload Statistics



Practice Areas

Westlaw Eforms - database contains official state and federal court and agency forms in interactive PDF format. Forms can be dowloaded or filled out and printed online.

Federal Forms from U.S. Courts - Over 126 civil and criminal forms, including complaints, summons, warrants, petition for Writ of Habeas Corpus, and many more, for use in the U.S. District Courts.

Findlaw - almost 8,000 state and federal court forms in pdf format.

Lexis One - searchable resource with thousands of free legal forms available for download. Free, but requires registration.

Docket Research - Explanation and updated information on the three major docket retrieval services: Pacer, Lexis Courtlink, and West Dockets.

Secrets of Online Document Retrieval - Good article discussing docket research, including instructions.

Findlaw - Resources by subject area.

Cornell LII "Law About" - Scroll to "Law About" in left frame.

Historic Legal and Political Documents

English Medieval Legal Documents AD 600- AD 1535

Magna Carta
Mayflower Compact
Two Treatises of Government, by John Locke
Iroquois Constitution
Patrick Henry's Give Me Liberty or Give Me Death Speech
Articles of Confederation
Federalist Papers
Anti-Federalist Papers
Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin
United States Constitution
Works of Thomas Jefferson
Kent's Commentaries on American Law
Democracy in America, by Alexis de Tocqueville
Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass
North American Slave Narratives
On-line Anthology of American Slave Narratives
Confederate Constitution
Gettysburg Address
Emancipation Proclamation
Chief Joseph's "I Will Fight No More Forever" Speech
Franklin Roosevelt's "A Date That Will Live in Infamy" Speech
Martin Luther King's "I Have a Dream" Speech
Martin Luther King's Letter from a Birmingham Jail
Chronology of U.S. Historical Documents - detailed chronology and links to hundreds of historical documents.
The Avalon Project: Documents in Law, History, and Diplomacy - presented by Yale Law School.
U.S. Congressional Documents & Debates 1774-1875 - from the Library of Congress.
Founders' Constitution - essays uniquely arranged and compiled by University of Chicago constitutional scholars.

For questions or suggestions regarding the Mercer Furman Smith Law Library Website, please contact Denise M. Gibson

orig. 2004; rev. 2/28/07;4/8/08

Copyright © 2004-2009