SEMINAR: STATUTORY INTERPRETATIONPROF. NOURSE

GUEST INSTRUCTOR: AMY FLICKOCTOBER 14, 2009

Legislative History

Legislative History Documents

Compiled legislative histories

Statutes at Large and Public Laws

Congressional Reports

HearingsCongressional RecordHistorical Documents

Sources for Congressional Documents

Emory Law Library Guide: Legislative HistoryHein Online

U.S. Federal Legislative History U.S. Congressional Documents

Lexis Congressional Lexis

US Code Congressional and Administrative News Westlaw

ThomasFDSys (GPO Access)Serial Set

Readex Serial Set database

Starting Points

Citations: Statutes at Large, Public Laws U.S. Code: History Notes Popular Names Tables

Citations: Bill Number Statutes at Large, Public Laws, compiled histories

Compiled Legislative Histories: Citations, sometimes documents Lexis Congressional, USCCAN, Thomas, Hein

Original Documents

Original Documents and PDFs Government Documents FDSys/GPO Access

Most newer documents Hein

Stat., Cong. Record Lexis Congressional

Older hearings and Cong. Record

Readex Serial Set Older reports

Statute: RLUIPA

Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act of 2000

114 Stat. 803P.L. 106-274S. 2869 (106th Cong.)September 22, 2000Documents available

in most legislative history sources

2000 Act: Compiled Histories

Guide: Compiled Legislative Histories

Lexis Congressional All related documents,

including previous Congresses Citations, SuDocs, document

text Also on Lexis

Thomas Free Bill Summary & Status: All

Congressional Actions Links to GPO Access for PDFs

USCCAN Selected documents,

excerpted reports Westlaw also links to other

legislative history documents Hein

PDF documents Sources of Compiled Legislat

ive History Statutes at Large: notes

Statutes at Large/Public Laws Legislative History notes FDSys/GPO Access, GovDocs

RLUIPA: Committee Reports

House and Senate Reports No report on the enacted bill,

but related report H. R. Rpt. 106-219

Committee reports for section-by-section analysis, background, purpose, definitions

Lexis Congressional: citations to all related reports, text

FDSys/GPO Access : pdf, retrieve by citation Fields to search include bill, Stat.,

and USC citations

Serial Set volumes Major reports may be

excerpted in USCCAN

RLUIPA: Other Documents

Hearings Official version (print or

pdf) varies from unofficial transcripts

Time lag before official publication

FDSys: pdfs of many hearings Search by fields, including

committee, witness, member of Congress

Lexis Congressional: separate database for pdfs of official hearings

Congressional Record Note different pagination

Daily and Bound editions Hein: Daily to Bound Locator

with date or citation FDSys:

PDF: Daily Edition Field search including

bill number PDF: Bound edition

(1999-2001) Index for page citations,

then retrieve by citation

Historical Statute: Civil Rights Act

Civil Rights Act of 1964

78 Stat. 241P.L. 88-352H.R. 7152 (88th

Cong.)July 2, 19964Documents available

in multiple sources, mostly as print or pdf

1964 Act: Compiled Histories

Hein Federal Legislative Histories Compiled legislative

history volumes with documents: Titles VII and XI

Congressional Record Use dates or citations

from other sources Use the Index/History

of Bills to find dates

USCCAN Volumes Range 301,

selected reports, excerpts

Westlaw LH database: USCCAN reports

Westlaw FED-LH database: GAO compiled legislative histories

Civil Rights Act: More Documents

Serial Set US Docs Y1: Find by

Congress, House or Senate, report number

Readex Serial Set database PDFs, search by bill or

report number Reports: S. Rpt. 88-352

and H.R. Rpt. 88-914 Summary and Section-

by-Section Analysis, background, history

Lexis Congressional Search Publications

related to PL 88-352 CRS Reports,

committee print Separate databases for

pdf hearings and Congressional Record

Guide: Historical Congressional Sources

Historical Statute: Alien Contract Labor Law

Alien Contract Labor Law of 1885

23 Stat. 332H.R. 2550 (48th

Cong.)February 26, 1885Few publications, few

sourcesMost sources don’t go

back that far

1885 Act: Sources

Hein Online No compiled history,

no legislative history notes in Statutes at Large

Congressional Record Index/ History of Bills H.R. 2550: Cong.

Record volumes 15 and 16

Use the citation navigator with page citations

Readex Serial Set Search by publication

or bill number S. Rpt. 820 and H.R.

Rpt. 444 Appendices to reports

include testimony summaries

Lexis Congressional Citations only,

including the bill and report numbers

Cong. Record: pdf