LibGuides: Government Documents & Information: U.S. Laws, Regulations, and the Courts

A Guide to Finding Information About Legislation

	GovInfo	Library of Congress	Congress.gov	ProQuest	HeinOnline
Bills	1993-	1799-1873	1951- 1799-1873 with gaps	17 76-
Committee Prints	1989-; 1975-1976			1789- indexing	1865- with gaps
Committee Reports	1995 - 1925-1926 1821-1864 with gaps	1833-1917	1995-	1789- indexing	1817- with gaps
Congressional Record & predecessors)	1994-		1903-	1789-	1789-
Congressional Record Index	1983-
Congressional Documents	1985- scattered 1817-1866	1833-1917		1789 - indexing	1817- with gaps
Congressional Hearings	1955-			1824-2003*	1849- with gaps
Private Laws	1995-		1973-	17 76-
Public Laws	1995-		1973-	17 76-
U.S. Statutes at Large	1951-	1789-1875		1789-	1789-
U.S. Code	1994-				1925-
Voting Records			1989-	1987 -

* Plus citations/abstracts and selected testimony transcripts 2004-current.

Thanks to library staff at the University of California San Diego for their help with this aid. Theirs (indicating their subscriptions) is here: https://ucsd.libguides.com/usgov/legislative

Databases for Information About Laws & the Legislative Process

HeinOnline This link opens in a new window
Statutes at Large of the United States, along with other important sets.
Updated regularly. Provides a collection of legal periodicals, reproducing the original image of each article. Includes over 1,200 law review journals containing more than 600,000 articles from 21,000 volumes.
Coverage begins from the first issue of each journal to roughly one year prior to the current year.
All journal content is in PDF format, so the pages appear just as they do in the printed version of the journal. Additionally, charts, graphs, photographs and similar non-text items are reproduced as they originally appeared in print.
Also provides access to the following:
- Federal Register
- Statutes at Large (the official source for the laws and resolutions passed by Congress, browseable by volume, popular name or treaty)
- U.S. Supreme Court Library
Access to this resource is funded by the Tarlton Law Library at the Jamail Center for Legal Research.

Restricted to current UT students, faculty and staff. Not available to Official UT Retirees
LLMC (Law Library Microform Consortium) Digital This link opens in a new window
Dates of coverage vary. Unlimited users.
Updated monthly. Offers a searchable full text digital collection of archival material from federal legislative, judicial and executive branch agencies. Contains over 7,500 titles, some 90,000 volumes, of interest to researchers in law and history.
An extensive collection of works on Military Law are included. Also included are a number of historical British Government publications about Iraq, Palestine and the Middle East.
Access to this resource is funded by the Tarlton Law Library at the Jamail Center for Legal Research.
ProQuest Congressional This link opens in a new window
Provides indexing of Congressional documents from 1789 to date.
Updated daily. Provides indexing of many Congressional publications from 1789 to the present, including Hearings, Committee Prints, Reports, Documents and Congressional Research Service Reports.
House and Senate Reports and Documents indexed in ProQuest Congressional (1817-1969) are available in full text in the Serial Set database. Our subscription to ProQuest Congressional does not include full text of the Serial Set.
Congressional Hearings after 2013 and House and Senate Documents and Reports indexed in ProQuest Congressional (1995 to present) are available in full text on Govinfo.gov site from the Government Printing Office.
Proquest Congressional Digital Bills and Resolutions This link opens in a new window
Full-text with indexing of Congressional bills from 1789 to date.
ProQuest Digital U.S. Bills and Resolutions provides searchable full text of all versions of all U.S. Congressional bills and resolutions from 1789 to the present.
Govinfo.gov This link opens in a new window
From the Government Printing Office. Much valuable content, including the U.S. Code; Congressional bills and the hearings; History of Bills; and the Congressional Record.
Updated daily. Govinfo provides free public access to official publications from all three branches of the Federal Government.

Federal Regulations

HeinOnline This link opens in a new window
Included the Federal Register (beginning with v.1, 1936) and the Code of Federal Regulations (beginning with v.1, 1938), along with other important sets.
Updated regularly. Provides a collection of legal periodicals, reproducing the original image of each article. Includes over 1,200 law review journals containing more than 600,000 articles from 21,000 volumes.
Coverage begins from the first issue of each journal to roughly one year prior to the current year.
All journal content is in PDF format, so the pages appear just as they do in the printed version of the journal. Additionally, charts, graphs, photographs and similar non-text items are reproduced as they originally appeared in print.
Also provides access to the following:
- Federal Register
- Statutes at Large (the official source for the laws and resolutions passed by Congress, browseable by volume, popular name or treaty)
- U.S. Supreme Court Library
Access to this resource is funded by the Tarlton Law Library at the Jamail Center for Legal Research.

Restricted to current UT students, faculty and staff. Not available to Official UT Retirees

Federal Register - govinfo.gov
Announcements of proposed and new regulations. Starting with v.1, 1936.
Code of Federal Regulations
Current codified regulations from the U.S. federal government. This product is from the U.S. Government Printing Office.
Regulations.gov: Your Voice in Federal Decision-Making
An opportunity to submit comments on proposed regulations and regulation changes.

The Courts

HeinOnline This link opens in a new window
Includes the U.S. Supreme Court Library, along with other important sets.
Updated regularly. Provides a collection of legal periodicals, reproducing the original image of each article. Includes over 1,200 law review journals containing more than 600,000 articles from 21,000 volumes.
Coverage begins from the first issue of each journal to roughly one year prior to the current year.
All journal content is in PDF format, so the pages appear just as they do in the printed version of the journal. Additionally, charts, graphs, photographs and similar non-text items are reproduced as they originally appeared in print.
Also provides access to the following:
- Federal Register
- Statutes at Large (the official source for the laws and resolutions passed by Congress, browseable by volume, popular name or treaty)
- U.S. Supreme Court Library
Access to this resource is funded by the Tarlton Law Library at the Jamail Center for Legal Research.

Restricted to current UT students, faculty and staff. Not available to Official UT Retirees
Nexis Uni This link opens in a new window
Includes federal and state court decisions, with "Shephardize" feature.
Updated continually. Nexis Uni™ features more than 15,000 news, business and legal sources from LexisNexis®—including U.S. Supreme Court decisions dating back to 1790—with an interface that offers discovery across all content types, personalization features such as Alerts and saved searches and a collaborative workspace with shared folders and annotated documents.
Effective January 1, 2018, Nexis Uni™ replaces LexisNexis Academic.

Constitution of the United States of America: Analysis and Interpretation
The Constitution with analysis.
FedWorld.gov
Historical decisions (1937-1975) of the Supreme Court.
Supreme Court of the United States
Find opinions of the court (1991 to date) and information about the institution of the Supreme Court.
U.S Constitution Annotated
From the Legal Information Institute of Cornell Law School. Linking to court opinions and other aids to interpretation.
United States Courts
About the federal courts, including "Find a Case" -- PACER (Public Access to Court Electronic Records) --- https://www.uscourts.gov/court-records/find-case-pacer) case locator.
United States Courts Opinions
Provides "public access to opinions from selected United States appellate, district, and bankruptcy courts." Most content dates back at least to April 2004.
United States Supreme Court Cases
Supreme Court decisions,1760 to date.

U.S. Congressional Serial Set

What is the Congressional Serial Set?

From govinfo.gov:

"The Serial Set is comprised of the numbered Senate and House Documents and Senate and House Reports, bound by session of Congress. The contents of the Serial Set have varied throughout the publication’s history, and at times have included House and Senate Journals, and the reports of executive departments and agencies."

Even experts agree that coverage is confusing. There's overlap with what is covered in the table on the left but it is hard to predict.

For access, options include:

HeinOnline This link opens in a new window
HelinOnline promises complete access to the Serial Set and has very helpful indexing:
(see: U.S. Congressional Serial Set
Introduction
American State Papers: 1st-25th Congress (1789-1838)
Congressional Serial Set: 15th-114th Congress (1817-2017)
Congressional Documents: 115th-118th Congress (2018-2023)
Congressional Reports 115th-118th Congress (2018-2023)
Guides & Indexes
Secrets of the Serial Set
LibGuide)
Updated regularly. Provides a collection of legal periodicals, reproducing the original image of each article. Includes over 1,200 law review journals containing more than 600,000 articles from 21,000 volumes.
Coverage begins from the first issue of each journal to roughly one year prior to the current year.
All journal content is in PDF format, so the pages appear just as they do in the printed version of the journal. Additionally, charts, graphs, photographs and similar non-text items are reproduced as they originally appeared in print.
Also provides access to the following:
- Federal Register
- Statutes at Large (the official source for the laws and resolutions passed by Congress, browseable by volume, popular name or treaty)
- U.S. Supreme Court Library
Access to this resource is funded by the Tarlton Law Library at the Jamail Center for Legal Research.

Restricted to current UT students, faculty and staff. Not available to Official UT Retirees

U.S. Congressional Serial Set (print)
Go to PCL shelving section 6BB (section "BB" of the 6th floor) to use the Serial Set in print.
U.S. Congressional Serials Set (from govinfo)
A growing set of materials, with much explanatory material.