LibGuides: Law/Legal Information: Legislative

Federal Government Resources

Congress.gov
Official website for U.S. federal legislative information provided by the Library of Congress. Replaces THOMAS. Find bills, laws, treaties, nominations, information about members of Congress, U.S. founding documents and videos explaining the legislative process. For help in using the site effectively access An introduction to the Congress.gov legislative information website.
ProQuest Congressional Record Permanent Digital Collection
Formerly LexisNexis Congressional, this resource is the digitized version of the bound Congressional Record (1873-to date) and its three predecessors, the Annals of Congress (1789-1824), the Register of Debates (1824-1837), and the Congressional Globe (1833-1873). The Congressional Record Permanent Digital Collection covers the period 1789-1997. More recent material can be found on the general ProQuest Congressional site.
Slip Laws/Public and Private Laws at govinfo.gov
Contains the official text of public and private laws (slip laws) enacted from the 104th Congress to the present (1995-present).
U.S. Statutes at Large at govinfo.gov
Compiled slip laws and more. It becomes the permanent format and supersedes the slip laws after U.S. Statutes at Large volume is published.
Public and private laws and resolutions passed during each Congressional session.

Full Text Access (1789 Volume 1-Present):
1. Free public access
(1)1951-present (82nd Congress 1st Session-)(V.65-): Digital at govinfo.gov, published by GPO .
(2) 1789 - current volume: Paper. Kelley Center Government Publications-STACKS, AE 2.111
(3) 1789 - 1950. (V.1-V.64) Digital at loc.gov posted by Library of Congress

2. Free access for Rice faculty/staff/students:
1789-present: Digital access via HeinOnline (Fondren Library subscription database)
United States Code at govinfo.gov
Codification by subject matter (50 titles) of the general and permanent laws of the United States. Currently 1994-present, but check to see what new years have become available.

Other Related Resources

Policy Agendas Project
University of Texas at Austin project which traces national policy changes and agendas since WWII. Datasets are available ranging from Congressional hearings to Supreme Court cases.

Subscription Databases

Congressional Research Service Fulltext This link opens in a new window
Full text of Congressional Research Service reports (1916+). The CRS works exclusively as a reference and research arm for the U.S. Congress.
CQ Almanac This link opens in a new window
Sixty years of congressional reporting in an annual summary
CQ Magazine This link opens in a new window
Legislative analysis from an award-winning weekly magazine
HeinOnline This link opens in a new window
HeinOnline is the world’s largest fully searchable, image-based government document and legal research database. Fondren Library has access to: 1) HeinOnline Academic; 2) U.S. State Full Package; and 3) Fastcase Premium.
Access to HeinOnline Academic includes the following:
1. Law Journal Library,
2. American Enterprise Institute,
3. Brennan Center for Justice Publications,
4. CaseLaw Powered by FastCase (basic),
5. Civil Rights and Social Justice,
6. Code of Federal Regulations,
7. Federal Register Library,
8. COVID-19: Pandemics Past and Present,
9. Criminal Justice & Criminology,
10. Executive Privilege,
11. Foreign Relations of the United States,
12. GAO Reports and Comptroller General Decisions,
13. Gun Regulation and Legislation in America,
14. History of International Law,
15. History of Supreme Court Nominations,
16. John F. Kennedy Assassination Collection,
17. Legal Classics,
18. Military and Government,
19. NOMOS: American Society for Political and Legal Philosophy,
20. Pentagon Papers,
21. Religion and the Law,
22. Reports of U.S. Presidential Commissions and Other Advisory Bodies: A Bibliographic Listing,
23. Slavery in America and the World,
24. U.S. Code,
25. U.S. Congressional Documents,
26. U.S. Congressional Serial Set,
27. U.S. Federal Agency Documents, Decisions, and Appeals,
28. U.S. Federal Legislative History,
29. U.S. Presidential Impeachment Library,
30. U.S. Presidential Library,
31. U.S. Statutes at Large,
32. U.S. Supreme Court Library,
33. U.S. Treaties and Agreements Library,
34. Women and the Law, and
35. World Constitutions Illustrated.

The U.S. State Full Package includes:
1. State Constitutions Illustrated,
2. Session Laws Library,
3. State Statutes: A Historical Archive,
4. Bar Journals Library,
5. State Attorney General Reports & Opinions,
6. State Reports: A Historical Archive, and
7. Prestatehood Legal Materials.
Nexis Uni This link opens in a new window
Lexis Nexis Academic includes government and legal information with access to government and political news, legal news, and state and federal statutes and case law. Also includes law reviews, state and country profiles and other news and reference resources.
Nexis Uni offers an intuitive interface that offers quick discovery across all content types, personalization features such as Alerts and saved searches and a collaborative workspace with shared folders and annotated documents.
Congressional by ProQuest This link opens in a new window
Formerly LexisNexis Congressional, this resource provides full-text access to historical (1789- ) and current U.S. Congressional publications, and information about members of Congress and Congressional committees. Track federal bills and laws.
WestlawNext Campus Research This link opens in a new window
Westlaw includes U.S. and state case law (1944-). The system also includes access to: United States Code Annotated, Code of Federal Regulations, Federal Register (fulltext 1980+), state administrative codes and statutes.
Please remember to link to Westlaw Campus from the Rice website (after configuring for proxy) - Westlaw's security uses a combination of IP/computer address and a customer-specific URL. Using another library link just won't do!