Free Legal Research Services

The American Bar Association's online legal research homepage, with links to federal and state resources.

Directory of law-related web sites.

(Michigan)

Search over 40 million government documents using FirstGov's revamped search engine. This page also includes a vast amount of subject-specific information about all levels of government and every federal agency. Excellent starting point for statistical research.

Free source for federal material arranged by subject.

Legal news and research produced by the University of Pittsburg School of Law.

Legal questions, answers, and research for lawyers.

Free service providing access to selected federal case law (registration required).

Searchable index can be used to locate federal judicial opinions, legislation, regulations, and other legal sources.

Provides access to state and federal court forms (registration required).

Furnishes contact information for legislative, judicial, and executive branches.

Covers federal legislative news and analysis on a weekly basis (1983 to present). Available to SCU users only.

Comprehensive site for legislative information, including: Bills (1993 to present); Congressional Record Official record of the proceedings and debates of Congress (1994 to present); History of Bills and Resolutions (1983 to present); Congressional Hearings (1997-98 session to present); Congressional Reports (1995-96 session to present); Analysis and Interpretation of the U.S. Constitution Annotations to U.S. Supreme Court cases; Public Laws (1995-96 session to present); U.S. Code (2012 edition).

(Law Librarian's Society of Washington, DC). Links to a wealth of federal legislative and regulatory research materials.

CRS reports provide in-depth analyses on a variety of domestic and foreign policy topics.

Provides access to a wide range of federal legislative materials, including bills, congressional reports and testimony, and regulations. Available to SCU users only.

Access federal legislation, committee documents, the Congressional Record, and roll call votes.
U.S. Constitution

Lists all titles -- use the form to retrieve a specific title and section number.

Provides electronic access to all federal court Web sites and to federal rules of practice, procedure, and evidence.

The Federal Judicial Center is the education and research arm of the federal courts. This site features guides to federal court operations, resources on courtroom technology, and a wide array of other educational materials for judges and attorneys.

A very nice website created by the librarians at Yale's law school that has information about judicial nominations. The site offers faceted-search, which is particularly helpful if you need to find a list of nominees by term, president, or year.

Provides video streaming of en-banc hearings.

(official Web site) Provides access to recent Court decisions, oral argument calendars and transcripts, and briefs.

(USCourts.gov) Provides statistical data on the business of the federal Judiciary. Specific publications address the work of the appellate, district, and bankruptcy courts; the probation and pretrial services systems; and other components of the U.S. courts.

The Supreme Court Database is the definitive source for researchers, students, journalists, and citizens interested in the U.S. Supreme Court. The Database contains over two hundred pieces of information about each case decided by the Court between the 1953 and 2008 terms. Examples include the identity of the court whose decision the Supreme Court reviewed, the parties to the suit, the legal provisions considered in the case, and the votes of the Justices.

(LexisOne) Searchable access to all U.S. Supreme Court cases from 1790 to present.

Created as a joint effort by two commercial companies and Oyez.org, this page features a free searchable database of Supreme Court opinions as well as links to Supreme Court blogs and additional Internet court resources.

(HeinOnline) PDF versions of cases from U.S. Reports from 1754 to 2002. Slip opinions from 2002 to present. SCU users only.

Includes links to opinions (1995-present), Federal Rules of Appellate Procedure, local circuit rules, and court calendar.

Includes opinions, forms, and local rules.

(Florida State) Provides links to federal and state administrative procedures acts and administrative law reform proposals.

Furnishes searchable access to federal regulations. Includes the List of CFR Sections Affected.

(Office of the Federal Register) This experimental government site provides electronic access to a currently updated version of the Code of Federal Regulations.

Furnishes information on federal government fiscal matters.

Features searchable access to volumes from 1995 to the current year. Includes proposed regulations, agency notices, and executive orders.

(HeinOnline) PDF versions of Federal Register volumes from 1936-2000. Available to SCU users only.

(GAO) Formerly known as the Government Accounting Office, this federal agency generates reports and testimony on a wide variety of federal policy, regulatory, and legislative matters.

(DOJ) Provides contact information for FOIA contacts at major federal agencies.

(Louisiana) Features an alphabetical listing of federal government agencies.

Major presidential speeches and addresses, press releases, executive orders, and briefings. Features Federal Register citations for each executive order and PDF versions of orders from 1993 to present.