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Public Administration Research Resources

Congressional & Legal Research Databases & Resources

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Find laws

Find Case law

Case law, or common law, are opinions issued by the judicial branch at the federal and state levels. Learn more about how to read a legal opinion.

Westlaw

You can search for cases in Westlaw by citation or natural language. You can filter results by jurisdiction (Federal, States, or Territories), practice area (i.e. Environmental Law), courts (i.e. Supreme Court, district courts, appellate courts etc), or by circuit. See the Westlaw Campus Legal Research guide for more help.

Westlaw home page with red arrow and box indicating cases within the Browse content box under all content

Google Scholar

You can search for case law in Google Scholar by citation or keywords by selecting "Case law" below the search bar. You can also chose to search for federal or state laws.

Google scholar search bar with red arrow and box indicating selection of 'case law' button below the search bar

Find Legislation

Statutes are bills that have been written and codified by the legislative branch (Congress). Only bills that are introduced in the current congress may be passed into law, but bills from previous congresses may be amended and reintroduced in the current congress.

Westlaw

You can access statutes in the U.S. Code Annotated or search for current and historic proposed bills and enacted legislation at the federal and state levels.

Westlaw page with red boxes and arrows indication links to statutes and court rules and proposed and enacted legislation in browse box

HeinOnline

HeinOnline page with red boxes indicating database selector next to search bar, and to US Code and Statutes databases under Databases by name

Congress.gov

Congress.gov it the official website for United States federal legislation, where you can find proposed and approved legislation and committee activities.

Find Regulatory Laws

Regulations or administrative laws are issued by the executive branch, for example by the President or an executive agency (i.e. Department of Agriculture, Department of State, etc).

Westlaw

You can find U.S. Federal, State, and Territory regulations or browse by topic (for example, immigration law).

Westlaw page with red boxes and arrows indication links to Regulations, administrative decisions, and proposed and adopted regulations in browse box

HeinOnline

Find regulations in the Code of Federal Regulations and Federal Register Library databases in HeinOnline. You can select individual databases in the upper navigation or next to the search bar.

HeinOnline page with red boxes indicating database selector next to search bar, and to Code of Federal Regulations and Federial Register databases under Databases by name

Free Legal Research Resources