Cite Government and Legal Documents: APA

Congressional Hearings

Reference List Citation

Title of hearing: Subcommittee Name, ###th Cong. (Year) (Testimony of Witness Name). URL [if from a public website]

The Constitution and Campaign Reform: U.S. Senate Committee on Rules and Administration, 106th Cong. (2000) (Testimony of Ira Glasser).

In-text Citation

(The Constitution and Campaign Reform, 2000)

Federal or State Statute

Statutes (or laws passed by a legislative body) are identified by assigned numbers, also called citations. These citations include public law numbers, a United States Code numbers, and statute numbers. Usually, you cite a federal statute using the U.S. Code number as follows. State statues follow a similar pattern.

Reference List Citation with U.S. Code Number

Name of Act, Title # Abbreviated Name of Sources § Section # (Year). URL

Americans With Disabilities Act of 1990, 42 U.S.C. § 12101 et seq. (1990).

Reference List Citation with Public Law Number

Use the public law number when the law is not (yet) included in the United States Code or when it is spread across non-consecutive parts of the Code.

Name of Law, Pub. L. No. #, Statute number (Year). URL

The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, Publ. L. No. 111-148, 124 Stat. 119 (2010). https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/PLAW-111publ148/pdf/PLAW-111publ148.pdf

In-text Citation

(Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, 2010)

Report from a Government Agency

Reference List Citation

Organization Name. (Year). Title of report. URL

United States Government Accountability Office. (2019). Performance and accountability report: Fiscal year 2019. https://www.gao.gov/assets/710/702715.pdf

In-text Citation

(U.S. Government Accountability Office, 2019)

Report from an Individual Author at a Government Agency

Reference List Citation

Lastname, F. M., & Lastname, F. M. (Year). Title of report. Organization Name. URL

Palanker, D., Volk, J., Lucia, K., & Thomas, K. (2018). Mental health parity at risk: Deregulating the individual market and the impact on mental health coverage. National Alliance on Mental Illness. https://www.nami.org/About-NAMI/Publications-Reports/Public-Policy-Reports/Parity-at-Risk/ParityatRisk.pdf

In-text Citation 

(Palanker et al., 2018)

U.S. Supreme Court Case

Reference List Citation

Name v. Name, Volume # U.S. Page # (Year). URL

Tinker v. Des Moines Independent Community School Dist., 393 U.S. 503 (1969). 

In-text Citation

(Tinker v. Des Moines, 1969)

Find the Case Citation

Volume # U.S. Page # is the official citation. See the image below for locating that number in Westlaw Campus. You can also find these on the right side of the Wikipedia article.