Federal Legal Resources

Federal Court Opinions

  • U.S. Supreme Court Opinions: Contains full text decisions, slip opinions, and orders from the Supreme Court of the United States.
  • U.S. Court of Appeals Opinions: Cornell’s Legal Information Institute site allows users to search full text any one or all of the U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.
  • United States Courts Opinions: United States Courts Opinions (USCOURTS) collection is a pilot project between the U.S. Government Printing Office (GPO) and the Administrative Office of the United States Courts (AOUSC) to provide public access to opinions from selected United States appellate, district, and bankruptcy courts.
  • State and Federal Court Rules: LLRX.com’s links to over 1400 sources of state and federal court rules, including forms and dockets. Searchable by keyword.
  • United States Constitution: Transcript of the Constitution in its original form with hypertext links to the parts that have been amended or superseded.
  • United States Code: Searchable by title and section numbers or by keyword, from the Office of the Law Revision Counsel of the U.S. House of Representatives.
  • Statutes at Large: Vols. 1 to 18 (1789-1875) of the United States Statutes at Large, includes a searchable index for vols. 1-8.
  • Congressional Record (FDsys): Official record of proceedings and debates of the U.S. Congress. It covers Volume 140 (1994) to the present.
  • Public and Private Laws (FDsys): Contains full-text of all signed bills from the 104th Congress to the present.
  • Code of Federal Regulations (CFR): Divided into 50 titles representing broad areas subject to federal regulations. Searchable by keyword or by citation. (Also see the e-CFR for an unofficial version that’s updated daily.)
  • Federal Register (FR): Daily publication of final rules, proposed rules, notices of federal agencies and organizations, and executive orders, and other presidential documents. Coverage is from 1994-present. (Also, try FederalRegister.gov and Regulations.gov for easier-to-use, more visually appealing alternatives.)
  • List of CFR Sections Affected (LSA): Contains lists of proposed, new, and amended regulations that have been published in the Federal Register since the last revised edition of a CFR Title.
  • Office of Legal Counsel Opinions: Opinions and Memoranda typically dealing with complex and important legal issues from the U.S. Dept. of Justice, Office of Legal Counsel.
  • Official Gazette for Patents: Links to full text weekly issues of USPTO Patents. Users can browse by classification or type of patent. For example: utility, design, and plant. Specific patents can be accessed by class/subclass or patentee name.
  • Agency Decisions and Other Actions: Links to administrative decisions and other administrative action outside the scope of the Code of Federal Regulations and the Federal Register, from the University of Virginia Library.