American Law Source On-Line (ALSO) - Comprehensive compilation of links to on-line sources of American law available without charge. See: U.S. Federal Government for U.S. Supreme Court Decisions, U.S. Courts of Appeals Decisions, U.S. District Court Decisions (including Bankruptcy Court Decisions), U.S. Special Court Decisions, U.S. Constitution, U.S. Legislation, U.S. Rules of Procedure and Practice, U.S. Administrative Law Sources, and more.
Classified Information Procedures Act - "Classified information", as used in this Act, means any information or material that has been determined by the United States Government pursuant to an Executive order, statute, or regulation, to require protection against unauthorized disclosure for reasons of national security and any restricted data, as defined in paragraph r. of section 11 of the Atomic Energy Act of 1954 (42 U.S.C. 2014(y)).
Code of Federal Regulations (Cornell) - This front-end to the Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) links to the most recent version of the CFR placed on the Internet by the Government Printing Office.
Code of Federal Regulations (GPO Access) - Codification of the general and permanent rules published in the Federal Register by the executive departments and agencies of the Federal Government. It is divided into 50 titles that represent broad areas subject to Federal regulation. Also search for current Federal regulations in the Federal Register and Code of Federal Regulations databases at Regulations.gov. Or visit the Electronic Code of Feeral Regulations (e-CFR).
Congress Votes Database - Browse every vote in the U.S. Congress since 1991. Maintained by the Washington Post.
Congressional Documents Online - A full-text archive of selected documents of the United States Congress maintained by Rutgers Shcool of Law.
Congressional Record (Bound) - The official record of the proceedings and debates of the U.S. Congress 1999 to 2001.
Congressional Record (Daily) - The official record of the proceedings and debates of the U.S. Congress 1994 to present.
Congressional Record Index (CRI) - An index of the daily issues of the Congressional Record. It is published biweekly by the Joint Committee on Printing when Congress is in session. The CRI consists of two parts: the index proper, which lists individuals, organizations, and topics mentioned in the Congressional Record, and the History of Bills, which lists legislative actions reported in the Congressional Record. The History of Bills is maintained as a separate database on GPO Access.
Constitution Project, The (TCP) - TCP staff undertakes original research, develops policy positions, publishes reports and statements, testifies before Congress, files amicus briefs and holds regular briefings with legislative staff and other policymakers. TCP's work has been cited by numerous government agencies, as well as leading law and policy organizations. Publishing materials that bring clarity to complex constitutional problems and solutions is also a part of TCP's mandate.
Consitutional Scholar Louis Fisher - Louis Fisher is Scholar in Residence at the Constitution Project. Previously he worked for four decades at the Library of Congress as Senior Specialist in Separation of Powers (Congressional Research Service, from 1970 to 2006) and Specialist in Constitutional Law (the Law Library, from 2006 to 2010. Links to his books, articles, and Congressional testimony may be found on this site.
Contact the Federal Judiciary - Federal courts across the country maintain web sites that offer valuable information such as court location and contact information, local rules, and access through PACER to case and docket information. For information on the U.S. Supreme Court, go to Supreme Court of the United States. Also, information is available about the judicial system in the United States and its two different court systems at Understanding Federal and State Courts.
Digital Millenium Copyright Act - A a United States copyright law that implements two 1996 treaties of the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO). It criminalizes production and dissemination of technology, devices, or services intended to circumvent measures (commonly known as digital rights management or DRM) that control access to copyrighted works. It also criminalizes the act of circumventing an access control, whether or not there is actual infringement of copyright itself. In addition, the DMCA heightens the penalties for copyright infringement on the Internet. Passed on October 12, 1998 by a unanimous vote in the United States Senate and signed into law by President Bill Clinton on October 28, 1998, the DMCA amended Title 17 of the United States Code to extend the reach of copyright, while limiting the liability of the providers of on-line services for copyright infringement by their users. See full text of act here.
Equal Protection - The Equal Protection Clause of the 14th amendment of the U.S. Constitution prohibits states from denying any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws. See U.S. Const. amend. XIV. In other words, the laws of a state must treat an individual in the same manner as others in similar conditions and circumstances. A violation would occur, for example, if a state prohibited an individual from entering into an employment contract because he or she was a member of a particular race. The equal protection clause is not intended to provide "equality" among individuals or classes but only "equal application" of the laws. The result, therefore, of a law is not relevant so long as there is no discrimination in its application. By denying states the ability to discriminate, the equal protection clause of the Constitution is crucial to the protection of civil rights. Also see Civil Rights.
Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) - Established for the codification and publication of uniform policies and procedures for acquisition by all executive agencies.
Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) - Designed to prohibit the corrupt use of the mails or other means and instrumentalities of interstate commerce by U.S. corporations, directly or indirectly, to bribe foreign officials, foreign political parties, or candidates for foreign political office.
Federal Court Rules and Policies - The federal judiciary's web site on the federal rules of practice, procedure, and evidence. This site provides access to the national and local rules currently in effect in the federal courts, as well as background information on the federal rules and the rulemaking process. All proposed amendments to the rules are posted for your review and comment. You may use the site to submit comments on amendments or to suggest other changes in the rules.
Federal Funding Accountability and Transparency Act of 2006 - An act [S.2590] that requires the full disclosure of all entities or organizations receiving federal funds beginning in fiscal year (FY) 2007 on a website maintained by the Office of Management and Budget.
Federal Laws, Policy & Regulations - The resources on this page include information on Federal Records Management laws and regulations that must be followed when managing government records.
Federal News Service (FNS) - Provides verbatim transcripts of the complete hearing testimony of Congress committees and subcommittees; public speeches and interviews of the President; White House, State Department, Defense Department and Justice Department briefings; press conferences and statements of international leaders visiting Washington; Presidential campaign debates and more.
Federal Rules of Appellate Procedure - Appellate procedure consists of the rules and practices by which appellate courts review trial court judgments.
FedLaw - Useful legal resources for Federal lawyers and Federal employees.
FindLaw: Cases and Codes - U.S. federal codes, statutes and regulations, reported opinions from U.S. Supreme Court, circuit courts, trial courts, and other federal courts.
Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA) - FARA was enacted in 1938. FARA is a disclosure statute that requires persons acting as agents of foreign principals in a political or quasi-political capacity to make periodic public disclosure of their relationship with the foreign principal, as well as activities, receipts and disbursements in support of those activities. Disclosure of the required information facilitates evaluation by the government and the American people of the statements and activities of such persons in light of their function as foreign agents. The FARA Registration Unit of the Counterespionage Section (CES) in the National Security Division (NSD) is responsible for the administration and enforcement of the Act.
Foreign Assistance and Arms Export Acts (.pdf; 507 pp.) - This volume of U.S. legislation and related material is part of a five volume set of laws and related material frequently referred to by the Committee on Foreign Relations of the Senate and Committee on International Relations of the House of Representatives, amended to date and annotated to show pertinent history or cross references.
Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) - In 1977, Congress passed the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act to address what was perceived as open and flagrant participation in the corruption of foreign governments by United States multinational corporations.
50 USC § 1881a [aka Section 702] - Procedures for targeting certain persons outside the United States other than United States persons. Legal Information Institute.
Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA): An Overview - FISA is the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, which establishes a legal regime for "foreign intelligence" surveillance separate from ordinary law enforcement surveillance.
Freedom of Information Act - The full text of the Freedom of Information Act in a form showing all amendments to the statute made by the Electronic Freedom of Information Act Amendments of 1996.
How Our Laws Are Made - U.S. House of Representatives document on how laws are made in the U.S.
Inspector General Act of 1978 - "To reorganize the executive branch of the Government and increase its economy and efficiency by establishing Offices of Inspector General within the Departments of Agriculture, Commerce, Housing and Urban Development, the Interior, Labor, and Transportation, and within the Community Services Administration, the Environmental Protection Agency, the General Services Administration, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, the Small Business Administration, and the Veterans' Administration, and for other purposes."
International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA) - A United States federal law allowing presidents to identify any unusual extraordinary threat that originates outside the United States and to confiscate property and prohibit transactions in response. In the United States Code the IEEPA is Title 50, sections 1701-1707. Also see IEEPA Wikipedia entry.
Justice Integrity Project - Promotes effective oversight of federal prosecution and judicial misconduct. Its primary focus is political and other arbitrary prosecutions, and official corruption cases.
Legislative Intent Service - Provides legislative history for California statutes and regulations, Federal legislation, and statutes and regulations for all states.
Library of Congress: Guide to Law Online - An annotated guide to sources of information on government and law available online. It includes selected links to useful and reliable sites for legal information.
LLRX Court Rules, Forms and Dockets - This site includes links to over 1,400 sources for state and federal court rules, forms and dockets. It is mainatined by Margaret Berkland.
Office of Workers' Compensation Programs (OWCP) - The OWCP had its origins in an organization established in 1916 to administer claims under the Federal Employees' Compensation Act. Benefits are available under this Act to more than three million federal employees, members and the Peace Corp, Americorps, Vista volunteers. OWCP also administers the Longshore and Harbor Workers' Compensation Act of 1927. This Act covers all maritime workers injured or killed upon the navigable waters of the U.S., as well as employees working on adjoining piers, docks and terminals, plus a number of other groups. Compensation under this Act is paid by employers who are self-insured, or through insurance policies provided by private insurers to employers.
Office of Law Revision Counsel - Prepares and publishes the U.S. Code, which is a consolidation and codification by subject matter of the general and permanent laws of the U.S.
Public and Private Laws -Public and private laws are also known as slip laws. A slip law is an official publication of the law and is competent evidence admissible in all state and Federal courts and tribunals of the United States. Public laws affect society as a whole, while private laws affect an individual, family, or small group. After the President signs a bill into law, it is delivered to the Office of the Federal Register (OFR), National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) where it is assigned a law number, legal statutory citation (public laws only), and prepared for publication as a slip law. Private laws receive their legal statutory citations when they are published in the United States Statutes at Large. Prior to publication as a slip law, OFR also prepares marginal notes and citations for each law, and a legislative history for public laws only. Until the slip law is published, through the U.S. Government Printing Office (GPO), the text of the law can be found by accessing the enrolled version of the bill.
RicoAct - In 1970, Congress passed the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (RICO) Act, Title 18, United States Code, Sections 1961-1968. At the time, Congress' goal was to eliminate the ill-affects of organized crime on the nation's economy. To put it bluntly, RICO was intended to destroy the Mafia. In the 1980's, however, civil lawyers noticed section 1964(c) of the RICO Act, which allows civil claims to be brought by any person injured in their business or property by reason of a RICO violation. Any person who succeeded in establishing a civil RICO claim would automatically receive judgment in the amount of three times their actual damages and would be awarded their costs and attorneys' fees. The financial windfall available under RICO inspired the creativity of lawyers across the nation, and by the late 1980's, RICO was a (if not the most) commonly asserted claim in federal court. Everyone was trying to depict civil claims, such as common law fraud, product defect, and breach of contract as criminal wrongdoing, which would in turn enable the filing of a civil RICO action. Today, RICO is almost never applied to the Mafia. Instead, it is applied to individuals, businesses, political protest groups, and terrorist organizations. In short, a RICO claim can arise in almost any context.
Science.gov: Federal Regulations - Search for current Federal regulations in the Federal Register and Code of Federal Regulations databases.
Stanford Securities Class Action Clearinghouse - Full text of complaints, motions, judicial opinions, and other major class action filings into a Website with its own full-text search engine.
Taft-Hartley Act of 1947 - Also cited as Labor Management Relations Act (LMRA), 29 U.S.C. Sec. 141-197. [Title 29, Chapter 7, United States Code].
Telecommunications Act of 1996 [.pdf] - The Telecommunications Act of 1996 is the first major overhaul of telecommunications law in almost 62 years. The goal of this new law is to let anyone enter any communications business - to let any communications business compete in any market against any other. Also see the FCC's 1996 Telecommunications Act page.
THOMAS - U.S. legislative information provided by the Library of Congress. Search current congress for text of bills. Retrieve public laws.
U.S. Attorneys Office - The United States Attorneys serve as the nation's principal litigators under the direction of the Attorney General. There are 93 United States Attorneys stationed throughout the United States, Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands, Guam, and the Northern Mariana Islands. United States Attorneys are appointed by, and serve at the discretion of, the President of the United States, with advice and consent of the United States Senate. One United States Attorney is assigned to each of the judicial districts, with the exception of Guam and the Northern Mariana Islands where a single United States Attorney serves in both districts. Each United States Attorney is the chief federal law enforcement officer of the United States within his or her particular jurisdiction. Also see United States Attorneys' Offices Contact Information.
U.S. Attorneys Manual - The United States Attorneys' Manual is a looseleaf text designed as a quick and ready reference for United States Attorneys, Assistant United States Attorneys, and Department attorneys responsible for the prosecution of violations of federal law. It contains general policies and some procedures relevant to the work of the United States Attorneys' offices and to their relations with the legal divisions, investigative agencies, and other components within the Department of Justice.
U.S. Code - Generated by Cornell Law School from the most recent version made available by the U.S. House of Representatives.
U.S. Code Classification Tables - These tables show where recently enacted laws will appear in the U.S. Code and which sections of the Code have been amended by those laws. The tables sorted in Public Law order may be used to identify the sections of the Code affected by a particular law. The tables sorted in Code order may be used to determine whether a particular section of the Code has recently been amended. The tables only include those provisions of law that have been classified to the Code. The text of recently enacted laws may be found through the Library of CongressThomas web site.
U.S. Code - This version, maintained by Cornell Law School, is generated from the most recent version made available by the U.S. House of Representatives.
U.S. Code: Table of Popular Names - The Table of Popular Names is a list of common names for legislative acts. Where possible, Cornell law School's Legal Information Institute (LII) has linked the Popular Names item to its relevant section of the U.S. Code.
U.S. Constitution - FindLaw's hyperlinked presentation of full constitution, annotations, and amendments. Keyword searchable. Supplemental resources.
U.S. Constitution - U.S. Constitution and annotations prepared by the Congressional Research Service of the Library of Congress.
U.S. Constitutional Amendments - Articles in addition to, and amendment of, the Constitution of the United States of America, proposed by Congress, and ratified by the several states, pursuant to the Fifth Article of the original Constitution.
U.S. Department of Justice, Office of Legal Counsel - By delegation from the Attorney General, the Assistant Attorney General in charge of the Office of Legal Counsel provides authoritative legal advice to the President and all the Executive Branch agencies. The Office drafts legal opinions of the Attorney General and also provides its own written opinions and oral advice in response to requests from the Counsel to the President, the various agencies of the Executive Branch, and offices within the Department. Such requests typically deal with legal issues of particular complexity and importance or about which two or more agencies are in disagreement. The Office also is responsible for providing legal advice to the Executive Branch on all constitutional questions and reviewing pending legislation for constitutionality. All executive orders and proclamations proposed to be issued by the President are reviewed by the Office of Legal Counsel for form and legality, as are various other matters that require the President's formal approval.
U.S. Department of Justice, Office of the Inspector General - Promotes economy, efficiency and effectiveness within the Department. The Inspector General also enforces criminal and civil laws, regulations and ethical standards within DOJ by investigating individuals and organizations who allegedly are involved in financial, contractual or criminal misconduct in DOJ programs and operations.
U.S. Solicitor General - The task of the Office of the Solicitor General is to supervise and conduct government litigation in the United States Supreme Court. Virtually all such litigation is channeled through the Office of the Solicitor General and is actively conducted by the Office. The United States is involved in approximately two-thirds of all the cases the U.S. Supreme Court decides on the merits each year. Also see:
Unified Agenda - The Unified Agenda (also known as the Semiannual Regulatory Agenda), published twice a year (usually in April and October) in the Federal Register (FR), summarizes the rules and proposed rules that each Federal agency expects to issue during the next six months.
USA Freedom Act - Wikipedia backgrounder. A bill concerning the Federal Government's authority to require the production of certain business records, conduct electronic surveillance, use pen registers and trap and trace devices, and use other forms of information gathering for foreign intelligence, counterterrorism, and criminal purposes, and for other purposes.
USA Patriot Act
USA PATRIOT Act - Full text, summary, backgrounder and additional resources. Many parts of this sweeping U.S. legislation take away checks on law enforcement and threaten citizen rights and freedoms. For example, without a warrant and without probable cause, the FBI now has the power to access your most private medical records, your library records, and your student records, and can prevent anyone from telling you it was done.
USA Patriot Act - Wikipedia backgrounder. Full text of this legislation to ostensibly "deter and punish terrorist acts in the United States and around the world, to enhance law enforcement investigatory tools, and for other purposes." Also see:
KWSnet is an Internet subject directory providing special attention to U.S. national and international news, the arts, computing, culture, environment, law, literature, media, politics, science and technology. Based in San Francisco, California, KWSnet contains over 150,000 annotated links to resources worldwide. Use Search KWSnet, located at the top of each page, to search within this site. Use Ctrl-F (Windows) or ⌘-F (Mac) to search within individual pages.
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KWSnet may be contacted via email with any comments, suggestions or link submissions. KWSnet is designed and maintained, in its entirety, by Kirk W. Smith.
