Federal Primary Law
Constitution
Laws
U.S. Code
U.S. Code from Cornell University
U.S. Code from U.S. House of Representatives
Statutes at Large / Public Laws
For Newer Laws: Public and Private Laws, 104th Congress (1995-96) to date, GPO Access.
For Older Laws: U.S. Statutes at Large, 1789 to [several years ago], Hein Online. Requires Library Card for access.
Pending Legislation
Legislative Information: Bills and bill status. From Thomas: U.S. Congress on the Internet.
Regulations
Code of Federal Regulations
- eCFR (1996 - date) The e-CFR is a currently updated version of the Code of Federal Regulations (CFR). It is not an official legal edition of the CFR. The e-CFR is an editorial compilation of CFR material and Federal Register amendments produced by the National Archives and Records Administration's Office of the Federal Register (OFR) and the Government Printing Office. The OFR updates the material in the e-CFR on a daily basis. The current update status appears at the top of all e-CFR web pages.
- CFR (1996 - date) This website includes official and authenticated copies of the annual published volumes of the Code of Federal Regulations. Daily amendments appearing in the Federal Register are not incorporated into these volumes. CFR sections could be as much as a year out of date.
Federal Register
Current Issues: Two methods to access the Federal Register: v. 59 (1994) - date:
- GPO: The official online version of the register
- Federal Register 2.0: v.59 (1994) - date. Beta. Also put out by the Office of the Federal Register, The new XML version includes some great new features, including an easy online method to submit comments on pending regulations through regulations.gov.
Older Issues: Federal Register: v.1 (1936) - about 3 months ago, Hein Online. Requires Library Card for access.
Cases
U.S. Supreme Court Opinions
U.S. Supreme Court site includes:
- Slip Opinions: newest cases from the court
- PDF Files of the Bound Volumes: beginning with v.502 (1991). Files are very large, but are identical to the official reports, including official page numbers
- Oral Argument Transcripts: available beginning on the same day an argument is heard by the court
Google Scholar: Federal Cases. U.S. Supreme Court opinions from v.1 (1754). The most recent few months are not included.
Hein Online offers U.S. Supreme Court opinions from v.1 (1754) to date. Both bound volumes and the slip opinions are offered here in .pdf format with official page numbers. Requires Library Card for access.
U.S. Supreme Court Briefs, American Bar Association, 2003/2004-date. Merit and amicus briefs are available by date or case name.
Early U.S. Reports Citation Conversion. Get a U.S. Reports cite if you have a cite to one of the nominative reports, such as Wheaton or Cranch.
Federal Circuit Court Opinions
Google Scholar: Federal Cases. Federal Appeals Court cases beginning with v.1 F.2d (1924). The most recent few months are not included.
Federal District Court Opinions
Google Scholar: Federal Cases. Federal District Court cases beginning with v.1 F.Supp. (1932). The most recent few months are not included.
United States District Court: District of Massachusetts. Site began in December 2001. Currently has cases since November 2001. Cases can be searched by judge, keyword or date.