# Presentation: 377421

## Federal Legal Research

- Pamela Barnes Craig

-           Law Library of Congress
-           Public Services Division

## Legislative

## Legislation Sources

- Public Law
- Format – Passed by U. S. Congress and signed by President
- _U. S. Statutes-at-Large_ (Stat.)
- _U. S. Code, Congressional and Administrative News_ (USCCAN)
- Pub. L. 103-416, 108 Stat. 4306
- Published in chronological order
- Index – Congress and session (Stat. and USCCAN)
- THOMAS - _[http://thomas.loc.](http://thomas.loc.gov/)__[gov](http://thomas.loc.gov/)_

## Slide 4

## Legislation sources 

- Codified Law (Current law)
- Format – Original law and subsequent amendments integrated together
- United States Code (USC)
- 8 USC 1401
- Subject-arranged (50 Titles)
- Index – multi-volume
- U. S. Code – _[http://uscode.house.gov](http://uscode.house.gov/)_

## http://uscode.house.gov

## Slide 7

## Slide 8

## U. S. Code

- Tracing legislation
- Parentheses at end of section contains listing of public laws
- First – Original law - created section
- Remainder – subsequent amendments
- (June 27, 1952, c. 477, Title III, ch.1, § 301, 66 Stat. 235; Nov. 6, 1966, Pub. L. 89-770, 80 Stat. 1322; Oct. 10,1978, Pub. L. 95-432,. . . .)
- Subsequent amendments separated by semi-colons

## Legislative History

- Materials published during legislative process
- Committee Reports
- Committee Hearings
- Debates (_Congressional Record_)

**Notes:**
Debates – Congressional Record
Reports – USCCAN
CIS Microfiche collection

## Administrative 

## Code of Federal Regulations

- Final regulations, arranged by subject
- 8 CFR 301.1
- Published annually in its entirety
- Published in quarters – January, April, July, October
- Color-coded
- Codes
- Authority (parentheses)
- Source [brackets]
- GPO Access – _[http://www.gpoaccess.gov](http://www.gpoaccess.gov/)_

## Presidential Materials

- Executive Orders and Proclamations
- Published in Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents
- Code of Federal Regulations, Title 3
- Federal Register

## CFR Updates

- List of CFR Sections Affected (LSA)
- Monthly, cumulative
- Page numbers – Federal Register
- Federal Register
- Daily
- Proposed, final, and interim regulations
- GPO Access – _[http://www.gpoaccess.gov](http://www.gpoaccess.gov/)_

## http://www.gpoaccess.gov

## GPO Access (cont.)

## Judicial

## Judicial Materials

**Federal Courts:**
- District (Trial, judge/jury)
- -Each State has at least one
- -_Federal Supplement  _(5-10%)
- Court of Appeals (Appeals, 3-judge panel)
- 	-Multi-jurisdictional (4th Circuit – MD, VA, NC, etc.)
- 	-Court of Appeal – Richmond, VA
- 	-_Federal Reporter_ (45-55%)

## Federal Courts (cont.)

- U. S. Supreme Court (Appeals, 9 justices)
- 	-Court of Last Resort
- 	-_U. S. Reports_ (GPO), _Supreme Court Reporter_ (West), _Supreme Court Reports, Lawyers Ed._ (Lexis) (100%)
- 	-Original jurisdiction
- 	- writ of certiorari
- 		-*cert. granted* or *cert. denied*

## U. S. Courts - Electronic

- U. S. Courts – _[http://www.uscourts.](http://www.uscourts.gov/)__[gov](http://www.uscourts.gov/)_
- Link to U. S. Supreme Court, Circuit courts, and Administrative Office of U. S. Courts websites
- Cornell University Legal Information Institute – _[http://www.law.cornell.](http://www.law.cornell.edu/)__[edu](http://www.law.cornell.edu/)_
- FindLaw – http://www.findlaw.com

## http://www.uscourts.gov

## http://www.law.cornell.edu/

## http://www.findlaw.com/

## Headnotes/Digests

- Uniform subject access – different jurisdictions (precedent)
- Legal Topic (Constitution Law)
- Number – subdivision of topic (242.2(6))
- Table of cases
- Dozier v.  (plaintiff)
- Dozier;   (defendant)

## Miscellaneous

## Legal citations

- 		         _________  name ___________
- 		          vol., title              page, section
- 			       108 Stat. 4306
- 			           8 USC 1401
- 			           8 CFR 301.1
-   	    	                   45 F. Supp. 61
-                               14 CJS 433
- 		          72 Geo. Wash. L. R. 621

## Online Source Citation

- Pacifici, Sabrina I.  “Identity Theft:  A Bibliography of Federal, State, and Consumer News Resources.”  February 17, 2003 *available at* http://www.llrx.com/features/idtheft.html (last visited Jan. 12, 2004).

## http://www.loc.gov/law/public/law.html

## Slide 29

## http://memory.loc.gov.ammem/amlaw

## Century of Lawmaking (cont.)

## http://www.fjc.gov/

## U. S. Senate – Art and History

## Slide 34

## Slide 35