Law and Government

See Access to the Library's Databases
for information regarding remote access.

About the U.S. Government
A compilation of official reference publications, including How Our Laws Are Made, Outline of U.S. Government, About America: The Constitution of the United States of America With Explanatory Notes.
C-SPAN Congressional Information Center
Directories of elected officials; important issues, recent votes, current legislation, and more.
Capitol Spotlight
Includes news, key votes and bills, a glossary of congressional terms, directories, and more (C-SPAN and Congressional Quarterly).
Congress.Org
Indudes congressional directories and a zip-code search for federal, state, and local elected officials.
- Congress.Org Issues and Action
  Search bills and votes in Congress and proposed federal regulations by topic.
FindLaw: Internet Legal Resources
Comprehensive law site including a searchable database of Supreme Court decisions since 1893.
FirstGov
Gateway to U.S. government online information, services and resources.
GPO Access
Official publications and information from all three branches of the Federal Government.
Guide to Law Online
Annotated guide to sources of information on government and law available online. Coverage includes state, national, and foreign government and law (Law Library of Congress).
JURIST: Legal News and Research
An academic gateway to authoritative legal instruction, information, and scholarship.
Law
Search multiple law-related reference sources (Credo Reference collection).
Law
Search multiple law-related reference sources (Oxford Reference Online collection).
LawInfo.org
Information on legal topics designed for consumers (American Bar Association).
Legal Information Institute
Includes opinions of the United States Supreme Court since 1992, together with over 600 earlier decisions selected for their historic importance, the full United States Code, and "libraries" in two important areas (legal ethics and social security) and a series of “topical” pages that serve as concise explanatory guides and Internet resource listings for roughly 100 areas of law.
LexisNexis Academic
Click on "Legal Research" for comprehensive access to federal and state statutory and case law.
LexisNexis Congressional
Statutary law and related information including: indexing of Congressional hearings from 1789 forward; full text of bills from 1989 forward, laws and legislative tracking, and more.
Nolo: Law for All
Self-help legal information.
The Oxford Guide to the United States Government
Authoritative information on the American Presidency, Congress, and Supreme Court (Oxford Reference Online Collection).
U.S. Congress Votes Database
Every vote in the United States Congress since the 102nd Congress (1991). Browse votes in a variety of ways -- both in aggregate and for individual members of Congress (Washingtonpost.com).
Wex
A collaboratively-created, public-access law dictionary and encyclopedia (Legal Information Institute at the Cornell Law School).
Zimmerman's Research Guide: An Online Encyclopedia for Legal Researchers
Guides for conducting legal and related research in a wide variety of areas.

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Official Documents

The Avalon Project at the Yale Law School: Documents in Law, History and Diplomacy
Primary source materials in the fields of law, history, economics, politics, diplomacy and government.
Brown v. Board of Education Digital Archive
Documents and images which chronicle events surrounding this historically significant case up to the present (University of Michigan).
Comprehensive Report of the Special Advisor to the Director of Central Intelligence on Iraq's Weapons of Mass Destruction
Core Documents of U.S. Democracy
A core group of current and historical Government publications.
Diplomacy Monitor
Online repository of diplomatic and international official statements, press briefings, communiques, etc. (St. Thomas University School of Law).
Documents in the News
Primary documents covering current events research from 1995 to present (University of Michigan).
Electronic Reading Room - Central Intelligence Agency
CIA information, including electronic access to previously released documents, and instructions for filing a FOIA request.
Geneva Conventions Reference Guide
(Society of Professional Journalists)
Government Views of Iraq
Government documents (U.S. and international) and information including U.S. Congressional Hearings and Resolutions, Federal Agency reports, transcripts of press conferences and briefings (City College of New York).
Hot Docs: Government Documents in the News
Full text documents or reports about major governmental activities -- New York City, New York State, U.S. Federal, or international -- which have been featured in the news (Columbia University).
Iraqi Prisoner Abuse Scandal
- U.S. Military's Taguba Report on Abuse
- Report of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC)
Legislation Related to the Attack of September 11, 2001
Legislation related to the terrorist attack on the United States through the conclusion of the 107th Congress (2001-2002).
Open Doors: Accessing Government Records
A comprehensive guide to the Freedom of Information Act (Society of Professional Journalists).
National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States (The 9-11 Commission)
An independent bipartisan commission that was chartered to prepare a "full and complete account of the circumstances surrounding the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks."
National Security Archive
A centralized repository and archive of declassified U.S. documents obtained through the Freedom of Information Act (George Washington University).
War Report
Select articles, documents, and analyses on the Iraq War and the aftermath of the Afghanistan War (Project on Defense Alternatives).
World Trade Center Attack: The Official Documents
(Columbia University Libraries)

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Copyright

United States Copyright Office
Copyright & Fair Use
(Stanford University Libraries)
Copyright Issues
(American Library Associtation)
Copyright, Law, and Fair Use
Links to copyright resources for the higher education community (University of Maryland).
Copyright Resources
(Association of American University Presses).
GigaLaw.com
Legal information related to the Internet and technology.
Intellectual Property and Technology Forum
Boston College Law School.

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Civilrights.org
Relevant and timely civil rights news and information.
EPIC: Electronic Privacy Information Center
A public interest research center established to focus public attention on emerging civil liberties issues. Resources include Bill Track, a list of congressional bills related to privacy, free speech, and cyber-liberties.
First Amendment Center
(Vanderbilt University)
Free Speech/First Amendment Issues
Links to resources provided by the American Press Institute.
Illinois First Ammendment Center
First ammendment news, court cases, and related information (State of Illinois and Federal level) provided by the Illinois Press Foundation.

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Google Patent Search
Google Patent Search covers the entire collection of patents made available by the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO). Use advanced search to search by criteria like patent number, inventor, and filing date.
United States Patent and Trademark Office
Official U.S. Government site.
Patent and Trademark Resources
Although many resources available at this site are restricted to users of Louisiana State University, other resources, such as online tutorials and print bibliograhies related to patent searching, are available.

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CCH Tax Research Network
LexisNexis Academic
Click on "Legal Research" and then "Tax Law" for The IRS Bulletin, tax regulations, and more.

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City Clerk of Chicago
Chicago City Council information.
LexisNexis Academic
Click on "Legal Research" for comprehensive access to federal and state statutory and case law.
Municipal Codes Online
Links to city and county codes available on the World Wide Web (Seattle Public Library).
State and Local Government on the Net
Directory of links to U.S. government sponsored and controlled resources (states, counties, and cities).
State Legislatures Internet Links
Information from the websites of the fifty state legislatures, the District of Columbia and the Territories.
U.S. States and Territories
Government links and legal guides (Law Library of Congress).
Stateline.org
State-level news, statistics, and public policy (Pew Center for the States).
Vital Records Information
Information about where to obtain vital records (such as birth, death & marriage certificates and divorce decrees) from each state, territory and county of the United States.

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Foreign Governments

See Also

Country and Area Studies

Chiefs of State and Cabinet Members of Foreign Governments
Monthly updates from the CIA.
Europa-The European Union Online
Provides annotated links to various government sites for European countries.
Foreign Governments
Links to official sites of governments worldwide (Northwestern University).
Rulers
Heads of state and heads of government (both current and historical) of all existing countries and territories.
World Factbook
Summary data (including maps) on foreign countries and governments provided by the CIA; regional maps in PDF format.
World Law (JURIST: The Legal Education Network)
Concise descriptions of foreign governments and links to official sites.

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Congress.Org
Indudes a detailed congressional directory, a directory of federal agencies, and a zip-code search for federal and state elected officials, and an index to bills by issue.
Counties
Information such as county officials, courthouse addresses, county seats, cities in a county, etc. (National Association of Counties).
Governors
Biographical and term information about each U.S. state/commonwealth/territory's governor via the National Governors Association.
GovEngine.com
Federal, state, and local Government .
Mayors
A database of U.S. city mayors (United States Conference of Mayors).
National Contact Center
A collection of directories of the Federal Government.
State and Local Government on the Net
U.S. states, counties, and cities.
Uncle Sam - Who's Who in the Federal Government
A directory, including biographical information, of current U.S. government officials.
U.S. Federal Government Agencies Directory
A list of federal agencies on the Internet maintained by LSU Libraries.
The United States Government Manual
The official handbook of the Federal Government. The Manual also includes information on quasi-official agencies; international organizations in which the United States participates; and boards, commissions, and committees.

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Supreme Court

Brown v. Board of Education Digital Archive
Documents and images which chronicle events surrounding this historically significant case up to the present (University of Michigan).
FindLaw: Supreme Court Opinions
Comprehensive law site including full-text Supreme Court decisions since 1893, searchable by citation, case title and full text (FindLaw).
LexisNexis Academic
Click on "Legal Research" for comprehensive access to Supreme Court decisions from 1790, and federal and state case law.
The Oxford Companion to the Supreme Court of the United States
The Companion has been fully updated and includes new entries on key cases and full treatment of crucial areas of constitutional law (Oxford Reference Online collection).
The Oxford Guide to United States Supreme Court Decisions
The Guide covers major Supreme Court cases through history, the U.S. Constitution, and the nominations and successions of justices (Oxford Reference Online collection).
Oyez
Access to all audio recorded in the Supreme Court since 1995 and to selected audio recorded prior to 1995 . In addition to the adio component, coverage of significant case opinions in various areas of jurisprudence, including case abstracts (Northwestern University).
Supreme Court - Biographies of Current Justices (PDF)
Biographies of current Supreme Court judges.
Supreme Court of the United States
Official government site. Use the Case Citation Finder to identify the official citation for all opinions as published in the United States Reports.
Supreme Court of the United States - Legal Information Institute
Opinions of the United States Supreme Court since 1992, together with over 600 earlier decisions selected for their historic importance (Cornell Law School).
Web Guide to U.S. Supreme Court Research
A selection of annotated links to the most reliable, substantive sites for U.S Supreme Court research.

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Official Web Site Locator for the United Nations
Directory for the United Nations system of organizations.
UN Documentation Centre
Full text documents. Click on "Official Document System of the United Nations (ODS)" for full-text searching.
The UNESCO Library
Access to the bibliographic database and the online document collection.
United Nations Core Treaties
Brief overviews of the treaties most central to the spirit and goals of the UN Charter.
United Nations Multimedia
United Nations' news and media service
United Nations Scholars' Workstation
A collection of texts, finding aids, data sets, maps, and pointers to print and electronic information which supports research in United Nations studies (Yale University).
United States Mission to the United Nations (USUN)