LEGAL RESEARCH GUIDE FOR AIS 102

US SUPREME COURT CASES

• Findlaw.com: Supreme Court Search, 1983 - present
  • http://www.findlaw.com/casecode/supreme.html

 LEGISLATIVE ACTS (PUBLIC LAWS), BILLS, AND CODES

Acts (Public Laws)

• Thomas: Public Laws, 1995 – present
  • http://thomas.loc.gov/bss/d109/d109laws.html
• GPO Access: Public & Private Laws, 1995 - present
  • http://www.gpoaccess.gov/plaws/index.html
• American Memory Collection: Statutes at Large, 1789-1875
  • http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/amlaw/lwsl.html
• Indian Affairs, Laws & Treaties, Public Laws, 1871-1935
  • Palomar College Library, Reference collection KF 8203 1972, v.1 – v.V
• Statutes at Large, 1937 to present
  • Cal State San Marcos library, 1937 to present
    • Government Documents Collection, call number AE 2.111
  • San Diego County Public Law Library, Vista, CA
    • Online access to Statutes at Large, 1937 to present
    • Directions to Library: http://www.sdcll.org/location.htm

 AMERICAN INDIAN CASES & LAWS AT PALOMAR LIBRARY

• You can find the text to American Indian cases and laws in the library reference collection
  • Call number range: KF 8203 through KF 8210

 MORE LEGAL RESEARCH ON THE WEB

• Palomar College Law & Legal Resource Directory
  • http://www.palomar.edu/library/subjects/law.htm

 * turn handout over for help citing cases and laws
 

 CITING LEGAL MATERIALS IN APA STYLE

• http://www.lib.wsc.ma.edu/legalapa.htm

 US Supreme Court Opinion Basic form:

Name v. Name.  Vol. number U.S. Page number.  (Year).

 US Supreme Court Opinion example:

United States v. Lane, 474 U.S. 438 (1986).

 Public law (statute) basic form:

Name of Act, Pub. L. No.  Number , § Section number, Volume number Stat.  Page number.

 Public law (statute) example:

Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990, Pub. L. No. 101-336, §2, 104 Stat. 328 (1991).