Research Guides: Domestic Policy: U.S. Bills and Laws

Find Bills and Statutes

A statute is law written and passed by a legislative body. A code is a set of published statutes arranged by subject.

Congress.gov
Includes legislative documents 1974-present and Congressional Record 1989-present. Click "more options" on the top search box for helpful filters.

Westlaw Campus Research This link opens in a new window
Includes annotations, links to secondary materials and court cases. Click Statutes & Court Rules for federal and state codes. For historical statutes from the 1980s on, look for Historical Statutes under Related Content on the right side.
For all current SMU students, faculty & staff

U.S. Code
Find U.S. Statutes organized by subject and by year from 1994 - Present. Click "Change" link next to "Browse the U.S. Code" to change the year.
Hein Online: U.S. Code
Use this for historical statutes back to 1925. Look for Early Federal Codes for statutes back to 1789.

Congress and the Nation
Find in-depth summaries of congressional trends, actions, political and policy controversies, organized by Congressional term and policy topic. This covers 1945-2020.
Congress in Context
Quick profiles with lists of major legislation, Supreme Court cases, timeline, and historical context for each Congressional session.
Congressional Research Service (CRS) Reports
Reports for Congress on policy issues from multiple perspectives. Reports can include historical context. From the early 90s to present.

CQ Press Library This link opens in a new window
Reports, primary sources, & background info on U.S. government & policy

Start with background information, books, or other secondary sources for references to specific statutes. Make sure your secondary sources match the time period you are interested in.
Search in Wikipedia by topic or popular name for links to the official U.S. Code.
For bills, search Congress.gov by popular name.
To narrow results, use the official public law or bill number citation. Numbers can be found in Congress.gov, Wikipedia, U.S. Code, etc.