Coleman Karesh Law Library

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Federal Legal Resources

Constitution:

• Constitution of the United States (Cornell Law School)
  • Analysis & Interpretation of the Constitution (GPO)
• Declaration of Independence
• Articles of Confederation

About The Government:

• USA.gov: Official U.S. Government website
• InfoUSA: U.S. Dept. of State
• Findlaw: Introduction to the U.S. Legal System
• GPO Access: U.S. Government Manual:Official Handbook of the Federal Government (comprehensive information on the agencies of the legislative, judicial, and executive branches)

Executive:

• Executive Office of the President (White House)
• Executive Orders
• Homeland Security Digital Library (access limited from the law library only)
• Presidential Papers

Executive - Administrative/Regulatory:

• Executive Agencies
• Code of Federal Regulations (Cornell)
• Code of Federal Regulations (FDsys-GPO)
• Federal Administrative Agency Decisions and Other Actions (University of Virginia School of Law)
• Federal Register GPO Access
• A Research Guide to the Federal Register and the Code of Federal Regulations: Law Librarians' Society of D.C.
• Forms from the Feds: Links to U.S.agencies' forms
• CyberCemetery: Archives of defunct federal agencies

Legislative:

• How Our Laws Are Made (Thomas-Library of Congress)
• Sources of U.S. Legislative And Regulatory Information (LLSDC)
• US Congress: Current and recent federal legislation (Thomas-Library of Congress)
• Congressional Record Index (1983-forward)
• History of Bills (1983-forward)
• US Senate
• US House of Representatives
• US Code: Cornell Law School
• US Code: Office of the Law Revision Council
• US Code: PDF version (House of Representatives)
• Historical Congressional documents (1774-1873)
• Federal Depository Libraries

Treaty Sites:

• American Society of International Law
• Early Recognized Treaties with American Indian Nations
• The Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy
• United Nations Treaty Collection
• US Department of State Private International Law Database
• US Senate: Treaties

For more treaty information go to Foreign & International Sources.

The Judicial Branch

• United States Supreme Court
  • U.S. Supreme Court: Docket, Oral Argument Transcripts, Briefs & Opinions (including bound volumes of U.S. Reports)
  • Findlaw: Important cases from 1893 to present. Browsable and searchable archive of US Supreme Court opinions from 1937 to the present.
  • Fedworld.gov: US Supreme Court opinions from 1937 to 1975
  • Cornell Law School (US Supreme Court from 1990 to date, with selected decisions prior to 1990.)
  • OYEZ: U.S. Supreme Court Decisions, News, & Audio of Oral Arguments
  • SCOTUSBLOG: Supreme Court of the United States Blog
  
  
• Federal Court of Appeals
  • U.S. Courts Website: Court Locator
  • Court of Appeals Opinions by Circuit:
  • U.S. Court of Appeals (1st Circuit) (Jan. 2000 - present);
  • U.S. Court of Appeals (2d Circuit);
  • U.S. Court of Appeals (3d Circuit) (1997 - present);
  • U.S. Court of Appeals (4th Circuit) (Jan. 1996 - present);
  • U.S. Court of Appeals (5th Circuit) (Apr. 1992 -present)
  • U.S. Court of Appeals (6th Circuit) (1994 - present);
  • U.S. Court of Appeals (7th Circuit) (1992 - present)
  • U.S. Court of Appeals (8th Circuit) (1995 - present)
  • U.S. Court of Appeals (9th Circuit) (Jan. 1995 - present)
  • U.S. Court of Appeals (10th Circuit) (Oct. 1997 - present);
  • U.S. Court of Appeals (11th Circuit) (May 1999 - present);
  • U.S. Court of Appeals (D.C. Circuit) (Sept. 1997 - present);
  • U.S. Court of Appeals (Federal Circuit) (Dec. 1999 - present);
  • Search All Federal Court of Appeals Circuits for legal opinions: Cornell LII

United States District Courts:

• District Court Locater (Findlaw) or District and Bankruptcy Courts (Cornell)
• Federal District Court for the District of South Carolina
• District Court dockets

Federal Court Rules:

• U.S. Courts Rules and Policies
• Rules of the US Supreme Court (US Supreme Court-Official)
• Rules of the US Supreme Court (Cornell Law School-Interactive links to statutes and other information)
• Federal Rules of Evidence (Cornell Law School)
• Federal Rules of Civil Procedure (Cornell Law School)

Free Federal Cases Websites

• Free Case Law: LexisOne (U.S. Supreme Court cases from 1781 to present, last ten years of all federal court cases.)
• Public Library of Law: Fastcase™ (U.S. Supreme Court and federal court cases. Check site for dates of availability.)
• Findlaw: Cases and Codes: Legal opinions (U.S. Supreme Court and federal court cases. Check site for dates of availability.)
• Google Scholar: Legal opinions and journals (U.S. Supreme Court cases from 1791, U.S. federal decisions from 1923.)

Appellate Court Briefs

• ABA Preview of US Supreme Court Cases: Merit Briefs-2003-present
• Supreme Court Briefs: FindLaw
• Robert J. Ambrogi: A Brief Summary: Finding Briefs on the Web
• LLRX: Free and Fee Based Appellate Court Briefs Online

Other Court Sites of Interest

• Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts
• Federal Judicial Center
• Federal Judicial Center Publications
• Biographies of Federal Judges
• United States Sentencing Commission
• Understanding the Federal Courts: U.S. Courts.gov - Structure, Jurisdiction & Common Legal Terms
• Federal Judicial Center: Biographies of federal judges & histories of courts
• A Journalist's Guide to the Federal Courts
• Media Alerts: Federal Courts of Appeals (ABA)