Research Guides: U.S. Law & Government Information: Legislative

Background Information

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

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.

Legislative History

Understanding the history of legislation is constructed by examining bills, committee reports, hearings, and debates. Sometimes, you can find compiled legislative histories, which link to the relevant documents for a particular bill. Constitutional amendments do not have legislative histories, so you will need to find related documents yourself.

The Congressional Record is the official documentation of the proceedings and debates on the floor of Congress.
Congressional hearings are meetings of a Congressional committee to obtain information and opinions on proposed legislation, conduct an investigation, or evaluate governmental activities.

Compiled Legislative Histories

Westlaw Campus Research This link opens in a new window
Easy access to documents for legislative history but not comprehensive. Search by the statute citation or by clicking Legislative Histories. The tabs at the top provide information on Bill Drafts, Legislative History Materials, and the Statutes Affected.
For all current SMU students, faculty & staff
U.S. Federal Legislative History Library (Hein) This link opens in a new window
Find legislative histories, House and Senate bill variations, and more.

Resources for Compiling your own Legislative History

CQ Press Library This link opens in a new window
CQ Almanac lists major legislation and votes for each Congressional session 1945-2020 and tracks policy by issue. Congress Collection provides provides historical analysis of members of Congress. Use CQ Magazine for coverage of Congress and policy analysis.

Congress.gov
Includes legislative documents 1974-present and Congressional Record 1989-present. Click "more options" on the top search box for helpful filters.
Congressional Hearings
Easy access for Congressional hearings 1961-present but not comprehensive.

Congressional Publications This link opens in a new window
Best coverage of congressional hearings and documents. Covers 1789-2010, including House and Senate Documents/Reports 1817-2010 and Congressional hearings 1824-1979.
U. S. Congressional Documents (Hein) This link opens in a new window
Use this for Congressional Record 1873-2015, Congressional Research Service reports, hearings 1889- 2018, and Congressional Budget Office reports.

A Century of Lawmaking for a New Nation
Congressional records of the U.S. from the Continental Congress through the 43rd Congress, 1774-1875.

Finding Relevant Statutes and Bills

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.