United States Federal Law
by Paul Axel-Lute
Last revised August 12th, 2008
Last revised August 12th, 2008
Contents
- Constitution
- Statutes, & Legislative Information
- Regulations
- Presidential Documents
- Court Rules
- Court Decisions, Briefs & Arguments
- Court-Related Information
- Judicial Conduct Code & Opinions
- Administrative Decisions
(See also the FedLaw site at the Center for Regulatory Effectiveness, which has specific links to laws, regulations, & other sources arranged under subjects.)
U.S. Federal Constitution
- Constitution (at NARA) | Constitution (at Cornell) | Constitution (at Thomas)
- Constitution of the U.S.A., Analysis & Interpretation: at GPO Access, at Findlaw and as CRS Annotated Constitution at Cornell LII. This work, prepared by the Congressional Research Service, provides extensive annotations to the Constitution, with references to U.S. Supreme Court cases. The Findlaw version merges the 1996, 1998, and 2000 supplements with the 1992 edition text, and gives links from the case citations to the full opinions, but omits some prefatory and appended material found in the full original version at GPO Access, such as texts of proposed but unratified amendments, lists of federal and state acts held unconstitutional, and a list of overruled Supreme Court decisions. GPO Access has 2002 and 1992 editions.
- The Founders' Constitution (at Univ. of Chicago Press) A major collection of the writings of the Founders, arranged under the relevant clauses of the Constitution.
- Declaration of Independence
U.S. Federal Statutes & Legislative Information
- United States Code (House of Rep.) | United States Code (House of Rep., PDF versions) | United States Code (Cornell) -- (To check for changes to a U.S.C. section found at either site, check the Classification Tables at the House site.)
- United States Code (at AltLaw)
- Federal Sentencing Guidelines
- Thomas : Congressional bills, Public Laws, & Congressional Record from 101st Congress (1989) forward; Congressional Committee Reports from 104th Congress (1995) forward.
- Active Legislation page (U.S. Senate site) -- subject and popular-name access to bills on which there has been action in current Congress.
- Federal Legislative History Research: A Practitioner's Guide to Compiling the Documents and Sifting for Legislative Intent by Richard J. McKinney (at Law Librarians' Society of Washington D.C.)
- Legislative Histories of Selected U.S. Laws in Electronic Format (Law Librarians' Society of Washington D.C.)
- Century of Lawmaking: U.S. Congressional Documents & Debates 1774-1873 (including U.S. Statutes at Large v.1- 6)
- Open CRS: Congressional Research Service Reports for the People, a centralized utility for searching CRS reports in various collections.
- Selected Congressional Research Service Reports on Congress and Its Procedures (Law Librarians' Society of Washington DC). Also includes links to sites for other CongressionalResearch Service reports.
U.S. Federal Regulations
- Code of Federal Regulations (front end at Cornell)
- Code of Federal Regulations (GPO Access)
- Electronic Code of Federal Regulations (GPO Access) (beta test site)
- List of CFR Sections Affected
- Federal Register (1995--)
- Manual of Uniform Traffic Control Devices
- Regulations.gov, site allows public to find and submit comments on proposed federal regulations.
- Army Regulations on army intelligence and security doctrine.
U.S. Presidential Documents
- Executive Orders and Proclamations, 2001--
- Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents (1993--)
- White House Virtual Library (1993-2001) .
U.S. Federal Court Rules
- Federal Rulemaking, official site with links to PDF texts of rules in effect, as well as pending and proposed rule changes.
- Federal Rules of Civil Procedure (at Cornell)
- Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure (at Cornell)
- Federal Rules of Evidence (at Cornell)
- Federal Rules of Bankruptcy Procedure (at Cornell)
- Gann Law Books site includes Local Rules of the U.S. District Court for the District of New Jersey, as free content. (Rutgers Law School students & faculty: use this link for access to Gann's annotated version of the N.J. federal practice rules.)
- Bankruptcy Court for District of New Jersey, Local Rules
- Official Bankruptcy Forms
- U.S. Tax Court, Rules of Practice & Procedure
- Third Circuit Local Rules and Internal Operating Procedures
- Rules of the Supreme Court of the U.S.
- LLRX.com: Court Rules, Forms & Dockets (includes links to local rules)
U.S. Federal Court Decisions, Briefs, & Arguments
Supreme Court
- AltlAw Includes Supreme Court decisions from 1790 to date. Not easy to use.
- HeinOnline U.S. Supreme Court Library (Rutgers-restricted access). Decisions from 1790 forward, including slip opinions (though not quite as current as the Supreme Court site); also has monographs and periodicals concerning the Court and its decisions.
- Justia.com U.S. Supreme Court Center. Decisions from 1791 forward, searchable and browsable, easy to use.
- lexisONE (registration required):U.S. Supreme Court opinions from 1790 forward, and Federal Courts of Appeals decisions from January 1996 forward, searchable with Lexis connectors and segment-restrictions.
- SCOTUS Blog: may have bench opinions posted before slip opinions are on the Supreme Court site.
- U.S.Supreme Court Decisions from 1893 forward (at Findlaw)
- U.S.Supreme Court Decisions from 1990 forward (at Cornell)
- U.S.Supreme Court Decisions: collection of historic decisions (at Cornell)
- U.S.Supreme Court Decisions: Oct.1991 forward; includes latest slip opinions and PDFs of U.S. Reports bound volumes , v. 502 forward. (at Supreme Court site)
- Dates of U.S. Supreme Court Decisions . . . 1791-1882 Table supplying decision dates omitted from original reports.
- U.S. Supreme Court Decisions, current term only for free; 1879 forward, with subject index, for $39/year (at USSC+).
- On the Docket Information on cases pending before the U.S. Supreme Court (Northwestern Univ., Medill School of Journalism)
- Briefs in U.S. Supreme Court cases, Oct.1999 Term forward (at Findlaw)
- The Curiae Project (Yale Law School) Under development, will provide briefs and records for a selection of the most important U.S. Supreme Court cases.
- Oral Argument Transcripts at U.S. Supreme Court, Oct.2000 Term forward.
- The Oyez Project, Northwestern University Includes audio recordings of the arguments at the U.S. Supreme Court, and extensive biographical information on the current Justices.
- Supreme Court Preview (American Bar Association, Division for Public Education). Includes copies of briefs in cases scheduled for oral argument in current term.
Courts of Appeals
- U.S.Court of Appeals for Third Circuit Decisions, May 1994-- (Villanova Law Library)
- U.S.Courts Links Page To get link to a Court of Appeals website, first select Court of Appeals and Search By Circuit, choose circuit in menu, and click Search. In results, click on link under "Location"; resulting display includes a link to court's website. Or just use this pattern URL: http://www.ca#.uscourts.gov/
- Federal Courts Finder (Emory Law Library) (links for all Circuits)
- AltLaw: Includes U.S. Courts of Appeals decisions from recent years, from various starting dates.
- Federal Circuits (VLex) All Circuits from 1949 forward.
- Rutgers-Camden Federal Courts Search Page: includes Courts of Appeals opinions from 1950 forward, searchable, browsable and retrievable by Federal Reporter citations.
- Citegraph: Federal Circuit
District Courts
- U.S.Courts Links Page To get link to a District Court website, click on the map; in resulting list, click on the link under "Location"; resulting display includes link to court's website. Opinion availability varies among Districts.
- U.S. District Court for the District of New Jersey, [LIVE] Document Filing System. Includes written opinions, approximately 2005 forward, viewable without charge by users of PACER. After logging in with PACER login, click "Reports," and choose the option "Written Opinions." (To acquire a PACER account, go to the PACER Service Center.)
- U.S. District Court for the District of New Jersey, Opinions, Oct.1998-- (at Rutgers-Camden)Caution: this site does not include all opinions issued by the court during the period of coverage.
- Federal District Court Civil Trials (Inter-University Consortium for Political & Social Research). Database of about 3.7 million federal district court cases terminated July 1978 to Sept.1997; can generate statistics including duration, win rates, median & mean award amounts, based on case category, date, district, trial mode, & other variables.
Specialized Courts
- U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the District of New Jersey, Published Opinions (beginning date varies by judge, earliest July 1994; not a complete archive).
- U.S. Court of Appeals for the Armed Forces, Opinions & Digest, Oct.1996--
- U.S. Court of Federal Claims, Opinions/Decisions, July 1997--
- U.S. Court of International Trade, Slip Opinions, 1999--
- U.S. Tax Court, Opinions Search , 1999--
U.S. Federal Court-Related Information
- U.S. District Court for the District of New Jersey web site.
- U.S. Courts: the Federal Judiciary : includes statistical reports on judicial business.
- Federal Post-Judgment Interest Rate (current and historical)
- History of the Federal Judiciary (at Federal Judicial Center)
U.S. Judicial Conduct Code & Decisions
- U.S. Courts Manuals & Policies: Includes Code of Conduct for United States Judges, Codes of Conduct for Judicial Employees, and Published Advisory Opinions of the Committee on Codes of Conduct.
U.S. Federal Administrative Decisions
(See also the Administrative Decisions page at Univ.of Virginia; and the "Agency Guidance Table" the Agency Index page at WashLaw; and the U.S. Federal-Executive collection at LLMC-Digital.)
- Commodity Futures
Trading Commission:
- Dispositions
- Enforcement Actions
- Exemptive, No Action, and Interpretive Letters (current year, with link to archive from 1995 forward)
- Opinions and Adjudicatory Orders (current year, with link to archive from 1997 forward)
- Comptroller General's Decisions:
- Consumer Product Safety Commission, Advisory Opinions
- Department of Agriculture:
- Department of Defense: Armed Services Board of Contract Appeals, Decisions (Dec.1997--)
-
Department of Health & Human Services:
- Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (formerly
Health Care Financing Administration):
- Advisory Opinions (Oct.1998--)(note: use IE)
- Rulings (HCFA, 1995-1998, CMS 2001--)
- Medicare Geographic Classification Review Board, Decisions (1999--)
- Provider Reimbursement Review Board, Decisions (1998--)
- Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (formerly
Health Care Financing Administration):
-
Department of Homeland Security:
- Customs and Border Patrol, Bulletins and Decisions (2002 forward)
-
Department of Housing & Urban
Development:
- HUDCLIPS Library: includes Legal Opinions (Oct. 1994--)
- Administrative Law Judge Decisions under Fair Housing Act (Dec. 1989--)
-
Department of Justice:
- Americans with Disabilities Act, Letters of Findings, Core Letters, Technical Assistance Letters, etc.
- Antitrust Division Business Review Letters (1993--)
- Attorney General and BIA [Board of Immigration Appeals] Decisions (has decisions from vol.10, ID# 1230, July 1962, forward)
- Executive Office for Immigration Review, Office of the Chief Administrative Hearing Officer (OCAHO), Decisions (1993--) (PDF)
- Office of Legal Counsel Memoranda & Opinions (WordPerfect, download only)
- U.S. Trustee Program: Administrative Decisions Regarding Private Trustees [in Bankruptcy] (1997--)
-
Department of Labor:
- E-Judication [Following description based on examination of former site OALJ [Office of Administrative Law Judges] Law Library:](ten case law collections, including ERISA [Employee Retirement Income Security Act] decisions; Board of Contract Appeals Decisions (1996--); Board of Alien Labor Certification Appeals (BALCA) En Banc Decisions (1996--); Job Training Partnership Act decisions; Office of Federal Contract Compliance Decisions (1977--); Wage Appeals Board Decisions (1964--); Whistleblower cases; and decisions under various other acts)
- Benefits Review Board Decisions (Black Lung cases 1989 and Longshore cases 1986--)
- PWBA Office of Regulations and Interpretations. Includes ERISA Advisory Opinions & Information Letters (1992--) (Pension & Welfare Benefits Administration)
-
Dept of the Treasury:
- Office of Comptroller of the Currency, Interpretations and Actions (May 1996--)
- Office of Foreign Assets Control, Interpretive Rulings
- Office of Thrift Supervision, Legal Opinions (1994--)
- Department of Transportation:
-
Environmental Protection Agency:
- Admin. Law Judge Decisions (Oct.31,1996--)
- Environmental Appeals Board Opinions (1992---)
- Federal Communications Commission site includes orders from mid-1994 forward.
- Federal Communications Commission Record (1986--) (University of North Texas Libraries Digital Collections)
- Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, e-Library (includes opinions, Nov.1994--)
- Federal Labor Relations Authority Cases (1992- 1998 in WP download only; v.55(Dec.1998) forward in HTML)
- Federal Maritime Commission, Docket Proceedings (includes formal decisions and selected ALJ issuances)
- Federal Reserve Board, Legal Interpretations (1996--)
- Federal Service Impasses Panel, Final Actions (1995--) (WP download only)
-
Federal Trade Commission: Formal Actions, Opinions, & Activities,
including:
- Decisions (1969--)
- Commission Actions--Past (1996-- )
- Adjudicative Proceedings
- Advisory & Staff Opinions
- Internal Revenue Bulletin (mid-1995--) (includes Revenue Rulings)
- Merit Systems Protection Board Decisions (1994--)
- National Labor Relations Board, Decisions & Orders (1935--)
- National Mediation Board Determinations (fiscal year 1998--)
- National Transportation Safety Board final decisions on airman, mechanic, & mariner's certificate appeals (mid-1992---)
- Patent & Trademark Office:
- Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation Opinion Letters (1974 forward)
- Postal Service Administrative Decisions (1957--) and Purchasing Protest Decisions (1987--)
- Railroad Retirement Board, Board Coverage Decisions and Legal Opinions (1997--)
-
Securities & Exchange Commission:
- Commission Opinions (April 5, 1996--)
- Administrative Law Judge Initial Decisions (Oct.31,1995--)
- Administrative Proceedings (Sept.19,1995--)
- Small Business Administration, Office of Hearings & Appeals Decisions
- Social Security Rulings (1960--) and Acquiescence Rulings (1986--)
- Veterans Administration: Board of Veterans' Appeals, Decisions (1994 only)