LibGuides: HIST385: Latinx South: Legal Materials & Government Documents

Government Documents & Legislative Histories

ProQuest Congressional (formerly LexisNexis Congressional Universe)
Contains congressional publications, including congressional hearings.

For help using this resource, contact Chris Palazzolo, Political Science and International Documents Librarian.
Legislative Insight
ProQuest Legislative Insight is a Federal legislative history service that offers thoroughly researched compilations of the full text of Congressional publications.

Legislative histories may be used to discover the legislative intent behind a specific law. ProQuest legislative histories are comprised of fully searchable PDFs of full-text publications generated in the course of congressional lawmaking. These include the full text of the Public Law itself, all versions of related bills, law-specific Congressional Record excerpts, committee hearings, reports, and prints. Also included are Presidential signing statements, CRS reports, and miscellaneous congressional publications that provide background material to aid in the understanding of issues related to the making of the law.

Resources available through Woodruff Library's databases:

Federal and State cases and documents

Westlaw Campus Research
Contains primary and secondary law material, news sources, and trade journal content. Also includes Westlaw research tools, such as KeyCite. Can be used to search for federal cases (U.S. Supreme Court, U.S. Courts of Appeals, etc.) as well as state-level cases, providing access to decisions with case coverage back to 1790. Includes significant complementary material (e.g., amicus curiae, briefs).
Nexis Uni
Formerly LexisNexis Academic, Nexis Uni provides full-text access to news, business, medical, educational and legal sources. Nexis Uni features not only the Shepard's citator but also a Guided Search tool in which users can search for cases based on jurisdiction and issue. Can be used to search for federal cases as well as state-level cases, providing access to decisions with case coverage back to 1790. Includes significant complementary material (e.g., amicus curiae, briefs).

The Public Library of Law
Includes cases from the U.S. Supreme Court (1754-present), Federal Court cases (1950-present), and state cases (1997-present).
Justia
Justia provides cases from the U.S. Supreme Court, U.S. Circuit Courts of Appeal, and U.S. District Courts, as well as many state supreme court and intermediate court of appeal cases.
FindLaw
FindLaw's Cases and Codes section contains resources and links for both state and federal laws. The database provides case law from the U.S. Supreme Court and U.S. Circuit Court of Appeal, as well as several state supreme courts.

U.S. Supreme Court cases and documents

U.S. Supreme Court website
The U.S. Supreme Court website (1991-present) includes recent decisions in addition to dockets, calendars, oral argument transcripts, court rules, and briefs.
SCOTUS Blog
Includes case opinions for cases dating back to the October 2007 term (linking to Bloomberg Law) and is a source for commentary on the activities of the Court, and court briefs.
Cornell Legal Information Institute (LII)
Includes Supreme Court cases from 1990 - present.
Oyez
Oyez provides Supreme Court cases since 1792, along with a short breakdown of the facts of the case, the main question the case seeks to the answer, and the conclusion. Additionally, users can view cases by the Court term or by Issue.
The Supreme Court Database
From Washington University in St. Louis, this database includes Supreme Court decisions from 1791 - 2018, as well as analysis of those cases.

Federal cases and documents

United States Courts website
Using the United States Courts website, you can find links to the individual courts to search for cases by jurisdiction.
GovInfo
From 2004-present, however not all courts are included.
Cornell Legal Information Institute (LII)
Dates will vary by court.