This page provides links to selected sources of online judicial opinions and legislative materials in the United States. It should be noted that online versions of case law and legislation are generally unofficial; therefore, users should check the official paper versions, as necessary.

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Federal Law: Judicial Opinions

U.S. Supreme Court

There are multiple sources of U.S. Supreme Court opinions on the Internet, each offering a different range of cases and in varying formats. Cornell's Legal Information Institute offers a Choice-of-Viewing service that directs users to websites where a particular opinion can be found, as long as the case has a U.S. Reports citation. 

Supreme Court of the United States
The official website of the Supreme Court of the United States provides access to the latest slip opinions and electronic versions of bound volumes of the United States Reports since 1991. Slip opinions are posted on the website usually within hours of being announced by the Court. (Note that bench opinions, which are made available to the public immediately after being announced, are transmitted electronically via Project Hermes to subscribers such as Cornell's Legal Information Institute and Findlaw (see below)). Also available on the Court's website is docket information about the status of cases as well as transcripts of all oral arguments heard by the Court beginning with the 2000 Term. Other information and services include the Rules of the Supreme Court, a case citation finder, case-handling guides, special notices, and press releases. Most documents are available as PDF files only.

Cornell's Legal Information Institute (LII): Supreme Court Collection of Current Decisions, 1990 to date
Cornell's LII offers current Supreme Court opinions via Project Hermes, the Court's electronic distribution project. The collection contains nearly all opinions of the Court issued since May 1990 (497 U.S.). A list of missing cases, mainly from early 1990, is also provided. Users can search the full opinions or the syllabi (case summaries) by keyword. LII also offers liibulletin, a free current awareness service to distribute recent oral argument previews, as well as the LII Supreme Choice-of Viewing, a service that directs users to websites where a particular opinion can be found, as long as the case has a U.S. Reports citation.

USSC+, current term
The USSC+ website from Infosynthesis includes free current term decisions categorized by subject matter. The decisions are listed in reverse chronological or alphabetical order by case name and are available in ASCII text or PDF format. 

GPO Access: Supreme Court Decisions, 1937-1975
GPO Access provides the full text of all Supreme Court opinions issued from 1937 to 1975 (300 U.S. to 422 U.S.). The database was furnished by the U.S. Air Force from its FLITE ("Federal Legal Information through Electronics") system. Decisions are available as ASCII text files and can be searched by case name, case number, or word or phrase in the full text. As of March 2011 Supreme Court Decisions 1937-1975 (FLITE) also available in GPO's Federal Digital System (FDsys) as bulk data.

Findlaw: Supreme Court Opinions, 1893 to date
Thomson West's Findlaw's database includes all Supreme Court opinions from 1893 (150 U.S.) to date. The decisions are available in HTML format, with U.S. Reports page breaks. Volumes 300 U.S. to date include hyperlinks within the cases linking citations to previous decisions. Users can browse the decisions by year or U.S. Reports volume number and search by citation, case title, or by word or phrase in the full text.

LexisOne, 1781 to date
LexisNexis's LexisOne, the resource for small law firms, makes available its Supreme Court case database dating back to 1781. Cases are searchable by citation and keyword, and users have the option of restricting their search by date, parties, judges or counsel. Full display of the text requires registration with LexisOne (a free service). Hyperlinks between cases are free for the last five years.

U.S. Supreme Court Center
Justia offers a Supreme Court database containing 1 U.S. to present. Users can search the entire database by citation, party name(s) or keyword, or browse by volume, year or recent opinions.

Cornell's Legal Information Institute (LII): Selected Historic Supreme Court Decisions
Cornell's LII provides the 2001 edition of its collection of major historic decisions of the Supreme Court. The collection, which contains 631 decisions, can be browsed alphabetically by case name. Links following cases names launch searches of the LII's indexes of recent U.S. Court of Appeals and Supreme Court opinions for references to the historic decision in question. The decisions are also organized into browsable topical groups, and the entire collection can be searched for particular words or phrases.

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U.S. Court of Appeals

There are several sources of opinions for most of the U.S. Circuit Courts of Appeals, each offering a different range of decisions. The following table lists all sources. Cornell's Legal Information Institute and Findlaw both offer search engines covering all U.S. Court of Appeals opinions on the Internet as noted below this table. LexisOne makes available federal cases decided within the last ten years.

Map of U.S. Courts
The U.S. Courts website provides a map of the U.S. Courts of Appeals with links by circuit to the court websites.

Cornell's Legal Information Institute (LII): All U.S. Circuit Courts of Appeals
Cornell's LII provides a keyword search engine covering all U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals opinions on the Internet. Users can search decisions of either one or all the courts. 

FindLaw: All U.S. Circuit Courts of Appeals
Findlaw provides a keyword search engine covering all online U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals opinions. Users can search decisions of all the courts or, after selecting a particular circuit, browse recent cases or search by date, docket number, party name, or by word or phrase in the full text.

LexisOne
LexisNexis's LexisOne, the resource for small law firms, makes available federal cases decided within the last ten years. Cases are searchable by citation and keyword, and users have the option of restricting their search by federal court, date, parties, judges or counsel. Full display of the text requires registration with LexisOne (a free service). Hyperlinks between cases are free for the last five years.

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U.S. District and Bankruptcy Courts

U.S. Courts
The U.S. Courts website lists links by circuit for the U.S. District and Bankruptcy Courts. Not all the sites have opinions. Local rules and selected forms are also available.

Cornell's Legal Information Institute (LII): U.S. District and Bankruptcy Courts
Cornell's Legal Information Institute provides links to information and opinions on the websites of U.S. District and Bankruptcy Courts organized by circuit or by state.

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Federal Agencies

Federal Administrative Decisions & Other Actions
The University of Virginia School of Law provides annotated links to agency homepages, to frequently accessed portions of those pages, and to administrative decisions and other actions. The links are organized alphabetically by agency and by subject.

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State Law: Judicial Opinions

Cornell's Legal Information Institute: State Courts
Cornell's LII collection of state legal materials contains online sources of judicial opinions for the fifty states, plus D.C. Users can access the materials by jurisdiction.

FindLaw: State Cases and Codes
FindLaw's "Cases and Codes" section provides links to state judicial opinions. Users can access the materials by jurisdiction. State opinions made available by FindLaw are browsable by year and month or searchable by title or docket number.

LexisOne
LexisNexis's LexisOne, the resource for small law firms, makes available state cases decided within the last ten years. Cases are searchable by citation and keyword, and users have the option of restricting their search by state, date, parties, judges or counsel. Full display of the text requires registration with LexisOne (a free service). Hyperlinks between cases are free for the last five years.

Guide to Law Online: U.S. States and Territories
The Library of Congress provides annotated links to sources of judicial opinions for each of the states and territories.

JURIST: Cases & Statutes
Cases & Statutes is JURIST's portal to official government websites for U.S. and state judicial opinions and legislation.

National Center for State Courts
The National Center for State Courts provides links to court websites for each state, focusing on the administrative office of the courts, the court of last resort, any intermediate appellate courts, and each trial court level.

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Federal Law: Legislation

U.S. Constitution

GPO's FDsys: The Constitution of the United States of America: Analysis and Interpretation
GPO's Federal Digital System (FDsys) makes available the 2002 edition (S. Doc. 108-17) and 2004, 2006 and 2008 supplements (S. Doc. 108-19, 110-6 and 110-17 respectively) of the Analysis and Interpretation prepared by the Congressional Research Service in the Library of Congress. As of the 2004 supplement, this service includes annotations of cases decided by the U.S. Supreme Court to June 29, 2004; as of the 2006 supplement, to June 29, 2006; and as of the 2008 supplement, to June 26, 2008. Also available are the 1992 edition and 1996, 1998 and 2000 supplements. Users can browse all documents or perform simple or advanced searches. Documents are available as PDF and text files. An information page is available.

NARA: U.S. Constitution
The U.S. National Archives and Records Administration provides a facsimile edition of the original Constitution with transcripts.

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U.S. Code

U.S. House of Representatives: U.S. Code
The website of the Office of the Law Revision Counsel of the U.S. House of Representatives offers a searchable U.S. Code database. Titles 1 through 6 and the Table of Popular Names are based on Supplement IV of the 2006 edition (January 7, 2011) of the Code Titles 7 through 50 Appendix and Tables I-VI are based on Supplement III of the 2006 edition (February 1, 2010) of the Code. The Organic Laws are based on the 2006 edition (January 3, 2007) of the Code. The site also provides introductory information, including a currency and updating page, as well as classification tables showing where recently enacted laws will appear in the Code and which sections of the Code have been amended by those laws. The text of recently enacted laws is available through the Library of Congress THOMAS website.

GPO's FDsys: U.S. Code
GPO's Federal Digital System (FDsys) contains virtual main editions of the U.S. Code from 1994 to 2009. Users can browse all documents, perform simple or advanced searches, or retrieve a single document by citation. Documents are available as PDF and text files. An information page about the U.S. Code and sample searches and URLS are available. Also provided are a Parallel Table of Authorities and Rules for the Code of Federal Regulations and the U.S. Code and U.S. Code Classification Tables from the Office of the Law Revision Counsel showing where recently enacted laws will appear in the Code and which sections of the Code have been amended by those laws.

Cornell's Legal Information Institute: U.S. Code
Cornell's LII provides an updated interface to the U.S. Code, with links to notes and legislative activity through THOMAS. This version of the U.S. Code is generated from the most recent version made available by the U.S. House of Representatives. Users can browse the code by title or title and section, or search the entire Code or a single title. Also available is a table of popular names linked, where possible, to the relevant section of the U.S. Code.

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Statutes at Large

GPO's FDsys: Statutes at Large
At the end of each session of Congress, the slip laws are compiled into bound volumes called the Statutes at Large, and they are known as "session laws." The Statutes at Large present a chronological arrangement of the laws in the exact order that they have been enacted. GPO's Federal Digital System (FDsys) contains the statutes enacted from the 108th Congress, volume 117 (2003) to the current session of Congress. Users can browse all documents, perform simple or advanced searches, or retrieve a single document by citation. Documents are available as PDF and text files. An information page about the Statutes at Large and sample searches and URLS are available.

Library of Congress: Statutes at Large
The Library of Congress offers a collection of 18 volumes of the United States Statutes at Large covering the laws of the first forty-three Congresses, 1789-1875. Every law enacted by the Congress is included in order of the date of its passage. In addition, the Statutes at Large includes the text of the Declaration of Independence, Articles of Confederation, the Constitution, amendments to the Constitution, treaties with Indians and foreign nations, and presidential proclamations. Users can browse the Statutes at Large or the page headings, or search the descriptive information and/or the full text.

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Public Laws

GPO's FDsys: Public and Private Laws
GPO's Federal Digital System (FDsys) provides public and private laws enacted from the 104th Congress (1995/1996) to the current session of Congress. The database for the current session is updated when the publication of a slip law is authorized by Office of the Federal Register. Users can browse all documents, perform simple or advanced searches, or retrieve a single document by citation. Documents are available as PDF and text files. An information page about public and private laws and sample searches and URLS are available.

THOMAS: Public Laws
The Library of Congress provides access to public laws by law number from the 93rd Congress (1973/1974) to the current Congress. Laws are listed both by law number order and in bill number sequence (House Joint Resolutions, House Bills, Senate Joint Resolutions, Senate Bills). Information provided for each bill that became law includes Bill Summary & Status records. Links to the full text of bills are provided from the 101st Congress (1989/1990) to the present on the GPO site as ASCII text or PDF files (different versions of the bill correspond to different stages in the legislative process).

NARA: Public Laws
The U.S. National Archives and Records Administration provides lists of public laws from current and past congressional sessions, starting with the 103rd Congress (1993/1994).

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Congressional Bills

THOMAS
The Library of Congress provides extensive searchable and browsable legislative information about congressional bills and amendments as well as the full text versions of bills through its THOMAS website. From the home page, users can conduct a quick search of the text of legislation for the current Congress. From the "Bills, Resolutions" section, users can search the entire text of all versions of all bills and resolutions introduced in Congress since 1989; find bill summary and status information about bills since 1973 and amendments since 1977; search the full text of bills across multiple Congresses; browse bill summary and status records for each bill that has been enacted into law and link to the full text of the law on the GPO website. Help pages are available.

GPO's FDsys: Congressional Bills
GPO's Federal Digital System (FDsys) contains all published versions of bills from the 103rd Congress (1993/1994) to the current session of Congress. The database for the current session is normally updated daily. Users can browse all documents, perform simple or advanced searches, or retrieve a single document by citation. Documents are available as PDF and text files. An information page about congressional bills and sample searches and URLS are available. GPO's FDsys also makes available a separate History of Bills database which lists legislative actions on bills that are reported in the Congressional Record from the 98th Congress (1983) to the current Congress.

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Congressional Record

THOMAS: Congressional Record
The Library of Congress provides a searchable and browsable full-text version of the daily edition of the Congressional Record, the official record of the debates and proceedings of the U.S. Congress, through its THOMAS website. Users can access the latest Daily Digest, a summary of a day's activities in both chambers of Congress, and link to the full text of the Record and to bills; search the Record since 1989; search the index to the daily editions or browse by keyword and link to the full text of the Record since 1995. Help pages are available.

GPO's FDsys: Congressional Record
GPO's Federal Digital System (FDsys) contains the Congressional Record from 1994 to present. The current year’s database is usually updated daily when Congress is in session. Users can view the Daily Digest from the previous day, browse all documents, perform simple or advanced searches, or retrieve a single document by citation. Documents are available as PDF and text files. An information page about the Congressional Record and sample searches and URLS are available. FDsys also makes available separate databases of the Congressional Record (bound edition) from 1999 to 2001 and the Congressional Record Index (daily) from 1983 to present.

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Congressional Hearings, Reports, Documents and Committee Prints

GPO's FDsys: Congressional Hearings
GPO's Federal Digital System (FDsys) contains selected House and Senate hearings for the 105th Congress (1997/1998) to the current Congress. Users can browse all documents, perform simple or advanced searches, or retrieve a single document by citation. Documents are available as PDF and text files. An information page about congressional hearings and sample searches and URLS are available.

THOMAS: Committee Reports
The Library of Congress provides searchable and browsable full-text House and Senate committee reports (including conference reports and joint committee reports) printed by the Government Printing Office (GPO) from the 104th Congress (1995/1996) to the current Congress. Reports can be searched by word/phrase, report number or bill number. Searches can be limited by one or more committees (House, Senate, Conference, Joint) and the date that the report was made available online. A help page is available.

GPO's FDsys: Congressional Reports
GPO's Federal Digital System (FDsys) contains House, Senate, conference and executive reports from the 104th Congress (1995/1996) to the present. Congressional reports originate from congressional committees and deal with proposed legislation and issues under investigation. The database for the current Congress is updated irregularly, as documents become available. Users can browse all documents, perform simple or advanced searches, or retrieve a single document by citation. Documents are available as PDF and text files. An information page about congressional reports and sample searches and URLS are available.

GPO's FDsys: Congressional Documents
GPO's Federal Digital System (FDsys) provides selected House, Senate, and treaty documents from the 104th Congress (1995/1996) to the present. Congressional documents originate from congressional committees and include reports of executive departments and independent organizations, reports of special investigations made for Congress, and annual reports of non-governmental organizations. The database for the current Congress is updated irregularly, as documents become available. Only the congressional documents that are printed by the GPO are included. Users can browse all documents, perform simple or advanced searches, or retrieve a single document by citation. Documents are available as PDF and text files. An information page about congressional documents and sample searches and URLS are available.

GPO's FDsys: Congressional Committee Prints
GPO's Federal Digital System (FDsys) provides congressional committee prints from the 105th Congress (1997/1998) to the present. Congressional committee prints are publications issued by congressional committees on topics related to their legislative or research activities. They are an excellent resource for statistical and historical information, and for legislative analysis. Users can browse all documents, perform simple or advanced searches, or retrieve a single document by citation. Documents are available as PDF and text files. An information page about congressional committee prints and sample searches and URLS are available.

LLSDC: Legislative Source Book
The Librarian's Society of Washington, D.C. makes available a webpage of quick links to House and Senate committee hearings and other publications. The links are organized by subject and provide access to GPO Access committee pages, hearing lists, news, publications, schedules, search pages, testimony, and transcripts. Comments following each listing add useful information.

A Century of Lawmaking for a New Nation: U.S. Congressional Documents and Debates
This online collection from the Library of Congress consists of a congressional records of the United States of America from the Continental Congress through the 43rd Congress, 1774-1875. It includes the Journals of the Continental Congress (1774-89); the Letters of Delegates to Congress (1774-89); the Records of the Federal Convention of 1787, or Farrand's Records, and the Debates in the Several State Conventions on the Adoption of the Federal Constitution (1787-88), or Elliot's Debates; the Journals of the House of Representatives (1789-1875) and the Senate (1789-1875), including the Senate Executive Journal (1789-1875); the Journal of William Maclay (1789-91), senator from Pennsylvania in the 1st Congress; the debates of Congress as published in the Annals of Congress (1789-1824), the Register of Debates (1824-37), Congressional Globe (1833-73), and Congressional Record (1873-75); the Statutes at Large (1789-1875); the American State Papers (1789-1838); and congressional bills and resolutions for selected sessions beginning with the 6th Congress (1799) in the House of Representatives and the 16th Congress (1819) in the Senate. A select number of documents and reports from the monumental U.S. Congressional Serial Set are available as well.

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Code of Federal Regulations

GPO's FDsys: Code of Federal Regulations
GPO's Federal Digital System (FDsys) contains annual editions of the Code of Federal Regulations (CFR), a codification of the general and permanent rules published in the Federal Register, from 1997 to present. Each volume of the CFR is revised once each calendar year and is issued on a quarterly basis. CFR volumes are added to FDsys concurrent with the release of the paper editions. When revised CFR volumes are added, the prior editions remain on FDsys as a historical set; all titles are available from 1996 to the current year. Users can browse all documents, perform simple or advanced searches, or retrieve a single document by citation. Documents are available as PDF and text files. An information page about the CFR and sample searches and URLS are available. Also are provided are List of Sections Affected (LSA), which lists proposed, new, and amended Federal regulations that have been published in the Federal Register since the most recent revision date of a CFR title; e-CFR, an unofficial version of the CFR which is updated daily, and the Parallel Table of Authorities and Rules for the Code of Federal Regulations and the U.S. Code.

Cornell's Legal Information Institute: Code of Federal Regulations
Cornell's LII provides the Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) generated from and linked to the most recent version of the CFR placed on the Internet by the GPO. It contains the federal regulations in force as of specific revision dates which vary from title to title. Users can retrieve a section by citation, browse by title, or search the LII index of all section headings.

NARA: Code of Federal Regulations Subject List
The U.S. National Archives and Records Administration provides lists of Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) subjects arranged by CFR title and part. Users can browse the lists or search by keyword.

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Federal Register

GPO's FDsys: Federal Register
GPO's Federal Digital System (FDsys) contains the Federal Register volumes from 59 (1994) to the present. The Federal Register is the official daily publication for rules, proposed rules, and notices of federal agencies and organizations. The current year’s database is updated daily. Users can browse all documents, perform simple or advanced searches, or retrieve a single document by citation. Documents are available as summary, PDF, ASCII text, or HTML files. An information page about the Federal Register and sample searches and URLS are available.

NARA: Federal Register Index
The U.S. National Archives and Records Administration provides annual Federal Register indexes from 1994, a current cumulative index, and daily tables of contents from 1998 with links to individual documents.

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State Law: Legislation

Cornell's Legal Information Institute (LII): State
Cornell's LII collection of state legal materials contains online sources of the constitutions, statutes, and regulations for the fifty states, plus D.C. Users can access the materials by jurisdiction and via an index of state statutes by topic.

FindLaw: State Cases and Codes
FindLaw's "Cases and Codes" section provides links to state legislative material. Users can access the materials by jurisdiction.

Guide to Law Online: U.S. States and Territories
The Library of Congress provides annotated links to sources of legislative materials for each of the states and territories.

JURIST: Cases & Statutes
Cases & Statutes is JURIST's portal to official government websites for U.S. and state judicial opinions and legislation.

LLSDC: Legislative Source Book
The Law Librarians' Society of Washington, D.C.'s provides links to state legislatures, state laws and state regulations. States are listed in alphabetical order.

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State Law: Uniform Laws

Cornell's Legal Information Institute (LII): Uniform Commercial Code
Cornell's LII provides the full text of most articles of the Uniform Commercial Code with links to individual state enactments.

Uniform Law Commissioners
The National Conference of Commissioners on Uniform State Laws makes final acts, drafts and related documents available. Users can search acts, drafts and legislation by act or state. Bill tracking for adopting states is included.