Where to Conduct Free Federal Legislative Research Online

Most research projects require researching both cases and statutes. Some attorneys prefer to delve straight into case law first while others prefer statutory law. Those who begin with statutory research typically pick up a print copy of an annotated code to find the relevant statutes and to read the case annotations noted. Unfortunately, many law firms are canceling their print subscriptions (if they even had them to begin with) and relying on online sources, whether pay or fee. When it comes to using free websites, however, annotated codes are simply not in the picture. That’s the bad news. The good news though is that the free unannotated codes are full-text searchable and easy to use.

There are three Web sites that offer access for free to searchable databases of the United States Code: 1) the Government Printing Office’s Web site, GPO Access, at www.gpoaccess.gov/uscode/index.html , 2) Cornell Law School’s LII site at www4.law.cornell.edu/uscode , and 3) the House of Representatives site (which is found at http://uscode.house.gov/search/criteria.shtml). Even though all use the same Code (prepared by the Law Revision Counsel of the House of Representatives), the House site is more up-to-date than the GPO or Cornell site. THe House version also goes back further in time--to 1988 (http://uscode.house.gov/search/prevcode.shtml) often making the House’s web version of the Code the preferred choice.

Even though the House site is the most up to date, it is still not completely current because the U.S. Code, since 1926, is only published every 6 years and then updated with annual supplements during the 6 year period. On January 20, 2009, the most recent Code was the 2006 edition. Most of the Titles of the Code (Titles 1 through 41) were based on the 2006 edition of the Code, which was updated through January 3, 2007. However, Titles 42 through 50 Appendix, Tables I-VI, and the Table of Popular Names are based on Supplement V of the 2000 edition of the Code (updated through January 2, 2006). Therefore, one must update the Code to check for recent amendments. Briefly, to update the Code, one must use the Classification Tables. They include Public Laws 109-170 to 109-172 and 109-174 to 111-1, approved January 16, 2009. The tables show where recently enacted laws will eventually appear in the Code and which sections of the Code have been amended by those public laws. We'll discuss the updating process in more detail later in this article.

Using The Most Current Code Is Not Always The Right Choice
Each site offers a few features unique from the other, so the choice of which U.S. Code site to use can sometimes depend on what type of search you want to do. For instance, if one only knew the "Popular" name of an Act, choosing the Cornell site (in theory) would be the best bet, since only Cornell offers a Popular Name Table for look-up. However, Cornell did not include a reference to the popular name "USA Patriot Act." We turned to the GPO site next and even though it doesn’t offer a popular name table per se, the site suggests that a researcher could still search by a popular name by entering keywords from the act and the phrase "popular name." That did not work either. What did work was a search just for the phrase "patriot act."

Which Is The "Official" Code?
Which of the three Web sites is the "official" code? None of them are, according to the House site; only the print version of the U.S.C., published by GPO, is official. The U.S.C. is published every six years (with the year 2006 being the latest version). A separate supplement is issued annually to update the Code.

Annual Updating of the Codes
The GPO’s online version is no more current than its print version. On January 20, 2009, the most recent version of the GPO print and online Code was the 2006 edition. When the supplements are uploaded, each amendment must be read in conjunction with the related code section because GPO does not incorporate the text of the amendment into the Code until the next version is published. (The 2010 version is not actually published in 2010, but is typically published several years later.)

The House, however, does incorporate the text from annual changes into each Code section, which makes it much easier to read the current code section as a whole. As of January 20, 2009, most of the House U.S.C. database had been updated through January 3, 2007. Researchers who need to readily identify the changes made by the amendment can do so by scrolling down to where the text of each amendment is displayed. At Cornell, one would click on the "Notes" link to view the amendments.

The Cornell site states it is 24 hours behind the House site, but does not make any guarantees. For example, in 2004, we did a search for January 16, 2002 amendments to 26 U.S.C. 6050S. Cornell yielded no amendments while the House site did. And, at the GPO site, which only included the year 2000 version, there were no results for this 2002 amendment, as expected.

Updating the Code After its Annual Supplements are Issued
For more recent amendments to the Code (ones made after the annual supplement is issued) updating gets trickier, even at the House site. Recent amendments are only noted at the House site if one has run a citation search (not a keyword search). Therefore, once a keyword search is completed and the citation for the Code section is identified, it is prudent to then run a citation search at the House site. However, even after doing that, the House site only displays an "Update" note, which states that the section has been amended but does not include the text of the amendment. The Update note makes reference to the Public Law Number of the amendment requiring a researcher to search by Public Law Number at the Thomas site (see below) to read the full-text of the amendment. At the Cornell site, one does not have to run a separate citation search to learn about updates; they are noted on a keyword search as well.

The Online Codes at the House and Cornell Site Have the Look and Feel of a Book
One of the most frequent complaints about online statutory research is that researchers feel too restricted because they are unable to page through nearby sections (like they would with a book) that might relate to the code section being researched. For example, if they search for 18 U.S.C. 22 and then want to go back to Section 20 or 21 or skim ahead to section 23 to see if they relate to section 22, they must run a new search for each section. Fortunately, the House and Cornell versions of the Code both provide the ability to go back and forth between sections thus offering the "look and feel" of a book. At the House site, this is accomplished by providing internal back and forth arrows on the top left of each page. (These are not the same arrows as those on your browser.) At the Cornell site, this is accomplished by providing "next" and "previous" links on the top right of each page. The GPO site does not offer this feature.

Keyword Searching and More at the House U.S. Code Site
The House’s U.S. Code Web site (http://uscode.house.gov/search/criteria.shtml)can be searched by keywords, phrases (placed in single quotation marks), topics, citations or a combination). A topic search allows one to enter a word, such as "fruit" to locate all code sections about various types of fruit, even if the word "fruit" is not used. For example, a topic search for "fruit" might find code sections about "apples." The topic must be entered with an exclamation point following the word, such as: fruit! Boolean connectors (and, or, not) and proximity connectors (near, adjacent, w/) may be employed to refine the search (see http://uscode.house.gov/search/help/uschelp.shtml) for sample searches. Searches can be further refined with "wild cards" or "masks." For example, one can use one or more question marks as wildcards to replace a specific number of characters. Typing in "int??city" indicates a search for any word that begins with "int" and is followed by any two characters and then ends with "city." The search results might include the words "intercity" and/or "intracity." An asterisk wild card indicates an unlimited number of characters. For example, child* indicates a search for child, child’s, children, or childish. Instead of conducting a full-text search, searches can also be refined by limiting the keyword or phrase to a specific "field" such as the "citation" field or the "section heading" field.

The following are some other useful features at the House site: (1) Portions of the code can be downloaded (by title, section, etc.); (2) Various classification tables have been created to help searchers find sections of the code that have been recently affected by newly enacted laws or to translate specific Public Law and Statutes At Large citations into their current U.S.C. citation and (3) a search to find sections containing references to a specific title and section can be conducted.

Keyword Searching and More at Cornell LII's U.S. Code Site

Even though Cornell’s LII U.S.C. database is not as up-to-date as the House site and does not offer as sophisticated Boolean and proximity searching as the House site, it has some incredibly useful search features not found at the House’s site. The most useful is the ability to automatically link to the code section’s related rules or regulations found in the Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) by clicking on "Parallel Authority" once a section is displayed on the screen. Also useful at Cornell is: (1) browsing the code by title (and then chapter by chapter and then section by section) by clicking on a title number at http://www4.law.cornell.edu/uscode/#SECTIONS; (2) searching by Popular Names at http://www4.law.cornell.edu/uscode/topn/; (3) keyword searching all titles of the code simultaneously at http://www4.law.cornell.edu/uscode/search (and refining your search with (a) Boolean connectors: and, or, not; (b) wild cards—the asterisk (*) and (c) phrases (by enclosing keywords in quotation marks)); (4)restricting the search to only one specific title at http://www4.law.cornell.edu/uscode/#SECTIONS and (5)searching by citation (title and section)at http://www4.law.cornell.edu/uscode/#SECTIONS. Be careful with this. We searched for Title 26, Section 5060s and were informed there were no results. When we placed the "s" in upper case, however, we got our result. It seems to be case sensitive though there is no warning.

Keyword Searching and More at the GPO Access U.S. Code Site

On the GPO Access site, you can search by: Citation (e.g. 42usc1204), U.S. Code subsections (e.g. 2USC661*), Popular Name (e.g. "popular name" AND brady), Public Law Number (e.g. "pub. l. 104-45"), Statutes at Large Citation (e.g. "110 stat 1345") and keywords or phrases. Phrases must be placed within quotation marks, as must a Popular Name search, a Public Law Number seach, or a Statutes at large Citation search (as shown in the above examples). The Boolean operators adj (adjacent), and, or, and not, can be used. Word roots can be searched using an asterisk (*). thus, safe* will retrieve safe, safely, and safety).

Legislative History Research
Not every statute, of course, has been interpreted by a court. Thus, there may come a time when an attorney who is either relying upon or attacking a statute finds there is no case law to back the argument. For those statutes that have come under court scrutiny, looking for another interpretation might be in order if the one at hand works against the client’s case. Trying to find the legislative intent behind a statute becomes paramount if one is going to have anything persuasive to argue at all (or anything different from the court’s current interpretation). Legislative intent came be found through legislative history research. The research might involve finding, reading and comparing all versions of a bill to ascertain what was left in or what was left off in the final version or what new material was added to the final version. Legislative research can also include reading committee reports that include staff research and/or testimony from outside parties and lobbyists. Finally, one can search the Congressional Record though it very often includes nothing of import. From this research, one can then try to draw inferences in an attempt to glean the legislative intent.

Searchable Databases Of Bills And Legislative Materials
As mentioned earlier, one needs to review the Bills database to determine if a U.S. Code section has recently been amended or replealed (since the U.S. Code sites are not completely up to date). Another reason to use the Bills database is to read a recently enacted bill (known as a Public Law or Act after it is enacted [passed]) in its entirety. When a bill is passed and becomes a Public Law, its various pieces may be scattered throughout the U.S. Code, so the best way to understand the entire law is to read it in its entirety at the Bills database. This is the case with the Patriot Act, for example.

There are two major governmental sites containing searchable databases of bills and legislative materials that could yield legislative intent. The first is GPO Access, which contains the full-text of bills back to 1993 (http://www.gpoaccess.gov/index.html) and bill histories back to 1983 (http://www.gpoaccess.gov/hob/search.html). The second is the Library of Congress’s Thomas site (http://thomas.loc.gov/home/bills_res.html), which contains the full-text of bills back to 1989 (click on "Search Bill Text" or go to http://thomas.loc.gov/home/c109query.html) and bill histories back to 1973 (click on "Search Bill Summary and Status" or go to http://thomas.loc.gov/bss/109search.html).

The GPO site (http://www.gpoaccess.gov/bills/search.html) was the more useful site when the searcher did not have a clue as to when the bill was introduced because it allows one to search a bill through all Congresses back to 1993 without first selecting a specific Congress. The Thomas site, on the other hand, used to require one to first select the correct Congress before being able to bill search. This has now changed and one can also search mutiple Congresses simultaneously at the Thomas site now too, by visiting:
http://thomas.loc.gov/home/multicongress/multicongress.html.

Searching the GPO Access Site for Bills & Legislative Materials

At the GPO Bill site (http://www.gpoaccess.gov/bills/index.html), one can search by bill number, subject (keywords or phrases) and identification codes. See search tips at http://www.gpoaccess.gov/bills/tips.html. Public laws are also available at GPO (http://www.gpoaccess.gov/plaws/index.html) back to 1995 and can be searched by keywords, phrases, U.S.C. or Statutes at Large citations or bill or public law numbers. Public laws can also be browsed back to 1995 (http://www.gpoaccess.gov/plaws/browse.html) and so can Bills, back to 1993 (http://www.gpoaccess.gov/bills/browse.html).

Searching the Thomas Site for Bills & Legislative Materials

At the Thomas Bill site, one can search full-text bills (http://thomas.loc.gov/home/c109query.html) by bill number, keywords, phrases, and date. One can search summaries of bills many more ways by using the advanced search at http://thomas.loc.gov/bss/. For example, one can search by any combination of the following criteria: sponsor name, date of introduction, stage in legislative process and committee. One can also browse specific types of legislative material (http://thomas.loc.gov/bss/110search.html) such as Public Laws, Private Laws, and Vetoed Bills.

Other Legislative History Materials at Thomas: Committee Reports
Committee reports can be searched at the Thomas site (http://thomas.loc.gov/cp110/cp110query.html) either by "Words", "Phrases", or "Report Number" back to 1995. A search for "class action" (use quotation marks if you only want the phrase otherwise the search will be for either of the words and the phrase) at Thomas in the (108th Congress displayed 21 committee reports. One was a 100-page report on the proposed class action bill. Committee Reports are not available at the GPO site.

Other Legislative History Materials at Thomas & GPO: Congressional Record
The Congressional Record on Thomas (http://thomas.loc.gov/home/r110query.html) is searchable by words, phrases, index words, date and name of the Senator or Representative back to 1989. At the GPO site (http://www.gpoaccess.gov/crecord/advanced.html), the Congressional Record is searchable by Volume number, section, issue date, page number, keywords, phrases, bill number or roll-call vote number back to 1994. (For search tips, see http://www.gpoaccess.gov/crecord/tips.html).

For General Legislative Information: House and Senate Sites
For more information on the legislative process in general (or even just to find your senator or assembly person), use the House web site at http://www.house.gov/ and the Senate web site at http://www.senate.gov.

Conclusion
The Internet has brought a tremendous amount of statutory and legislative information to the attorney’s desktop—with some of the older information going as far back as 1973 and some of the newer information practically in real-time. While searching the U.S.C., bills and other Legislative materials online can be daunting at first, it’s less daunting than doing this type of research with print materials.