Links to databases for researching U.S. Law and Legislative History
(* N.B. Access may be restricted to SLS-affiliated users.)
LexisNexis (SLS Databases)
http://lawschool.lexis.com
Access to comprehensive U.S. law and secondary sources, business information, and both current & historical news coverage.
Westlaw/WestlawNext (SLS Databases)
http://lawschool.westlaw.com
Access to comprehensive U.S. law and secondary sources, business information, and both current & historical news coverage.
HeinOnline (SLS Database)
http://library.stanford.edu/ezproxy/
Contains full text of numerous law journals, dating to the 1800′s. Also offers databases with copies of, among other things: current and historical versions of U.S. Code; federal statutes; legislative histories; U.S. legal history; Attorney General Opinions; Supreme Court documents; Presidential Papers; and, 50-state survey. Both document retrieval and full-text searching is available.
ProQuest Congressional (SLS Database)
http://www.law.stanford.edu/library/legal_databases/
Access congressional materials (such as the Congressional Record, bills, committee reports and prints, and CRS analyses) and legislative histories with full text searching.
BNA (SLS Databases)
http://www.law.stanford.edu/library/legal_databases/
BNA publishes more than 350 daily, weekly, and monthly news and analysis services covering the full range of legal, legislative, regulatory, and economic developments. Specialty areas include corporate law & business; employment & labor law; environment, health & safety; health care; intellectual property; litigation; and, tax. For access passwords, please contactreference@law.stanford.edu.
Bloomberg Law (SLS Database)
http://blaw.com
This product is from the well-known provider of business and financial news data and described as an “all inclusive tool providing in-depth legal analysis, filings, opinions, real-time and archival news, indexes, rankings, company and biographical information, research and streaming live trial coverage on a single, integrated desktop platform.” For information, please inquire at the reference desk by telephone to 650 725.0800 or by e-mail toreference@law.stanford.edu. One particularly noteworthy feature is the current Bloomberg Law Report library of topical law reports in areas like antitrust & trade, banking & finance, and director & officer liability, among others.
LexisNexis Academic Universe (SLS Database)
http://library.stanford.edu/ezproxy/
Provides access to various databases, including current news, business information, company directories, federal and state laws, regulations, legal cases, medical and references
PACER (SLS Database)
http://www.pacer.gov
Public Access to Court Electronic Records (PACER) is an electronic public access service that allows users to obtain case and docket information from Federal Appellate, District and Bankruptcy courts, and from the U.S. Party/Case Index. A password is required. Please inquire at reference@law.stanford.edu.
Federal Digital System (FDSys)
http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/search/home.action
Official U.S. Government information migrated from GPO Access (see below), occurring on a collection-by-collection basis.
THOMAS
http://thomas.loc.gov/home/bills_res.html
Library of Congress’ contemporary federal legislative portal, searchable back to the 101st Congress (1989-1991).
Regulations.gov
http://www.regulations.gov/#!home
Source for all regulations (or rulemakings) issued by U.S. Government agencies, including all proposed and final federal rules, as well as notices – as published in the FR – and additional supporting materials, public comments, and federal agency guidance and adjudications.
Court Websites
Court websites often provide access to several years’ worth of recent opinions, briefs and other case documents. (e.g. SCOTUShttp://www.supremecourt.gov/; 9th Circuit Court of Appeals http://www.ca9.uscourts.gov/; U.S. District Court Northern District Californiahttp://www.cand.uscourts.gov/home)
Justia
http://www.justia.com/
Opinions from and information about U.S. Supreme Court, Circuit Courts of Appeal, and District Courts, state courts. Searchable and browsable.
Legal Information Institute
http://www.law.cornell.edu/
Access the U.S. Code, Code of Federal Regulations, case law, and other collections on Cornell University Law School’s respected research and electronic publishing site.
Findlaw
http://www.findlaw.com/
U.S. Supreme Court, Circuit Courts of Appeal, and District Courts, among others, and state courts – searchable and browsable.
Fastcase
http://www.law.stanford.edu/library/legal_databases/
Fastcase is an alternative legal research database that features a full national case law library (including tax, claims, and bankruptcy courts); state case law; and federal and state statutes and regulations. It also has an interactive timeline feature, which provides a way of visualizing the relevance of search results. Cases are represented as circles on a timeline graph. The bigger the circle, the more citations to that case, and therefore the more relevant it is likely to be to the research query.
