Research Guide: U. S. Laws and Regulations
The Constitution is the founding document for the United States federal government. It is the basic and "supreme law of the land". It defines the structure of the federal government, provides the legal foundation on which all its actions must rest, and guarantees the rights due to its citizens. No laws may contradict any of the Constitution's principles. The federal courts have jurisdiction to interpret the Constitution and evaluate the constitutionality of federal and state laws.
A bill is a draft of a proposed law. Bills may originate in either the House of Representatives or in the Senate. They are designated either H.R. or S. and are numbered consecutively throughout a Congress. A bill retains the same number throughout the two sessions of a single Congress. If the bill has not passed by the end of a Congress, it has to be reintroduced in the next Congress, and it is assigned a new number at that time. When a bill is passed by both houses of Congress and is signed by the President, it becomes a public law.
A bill, from its introduction to its defeat or passage into law, may go through many steps in Congress. The documents that result from the bill's journey through each of these steps may become part of the legislative history of the bill. Knowing the legislative history of a bill can be a valuable aid in understanding or interpreting legislative intent. The documents that comprise a legislative history may include.
2.1 Bills and Amendments
2.2 Congressional Hearings
A hearing is a meeting or session of a Senate, House, Joint, or Special Committee of Congress, usually open to the public, to obtain information and opinions on proposed legislation, conduct an investigation, or evaluate/oversee the activities of a government department or the implementation of a Federal law.
2.3 Reports of Committees
Congressional committees file reports to the full chamber (House or Senate) on the legislation referred to them for analysis.
2.4 Legislative Debates
Congressional "floor debates" are the consideration of a bill or resolution by Senators or Representatives before the full Senate or House. Sometimes explanations of controversial sections of a bill are included in debates. Floor debates can occur at almost any stage of a bill's progress, but usually take place after a bill has been reported out of committee.
Transcripts of debates are included in the Congressional Record. The Congressional Record includes the introduction of all bills; resolutions; amendments; debates; texts of many bills, joint/simple/concurrent resolutions that pass; Presidential messages; and treaties when debated.
Caution. Congressional debates are sometimes questioned as a source of legislative intent because they can be legally altered before they are published in the Congressional Record. Participants in debates are given transcripts of their remarks in floor debates at day's end and are then allowed to edit them. Editing includes changing, omitting, and adding statements. A Member can appear to be speaking when there was actually no speech made.
2.5 Secondary Sources
Each bill passed by Congress is enrolled for Presidential action. A bill becomes law by Presidential signature. The Constitution requires the President to approve the bill by signature or to veto it by returning the bill to the house from which it originated with his objections for reconsideration. A veto is overridden with a two-thirds vote in each chamber, and the bill becomes law. Finally, a bill may become law by "pocket veto", whereby the President does not return the bill to Congress with objections within 10 days.
3.1 Presidential Vetoes
When a bill is passed by both houses of Congress and signed by the President, it becomes a public law, or statute. Public laws are published by the federal government in two basic formats: chronological and subject matter. The United States Statutes at Large publishes the laws chronologically; the United States Code (USC) publishes the laws by subject matter.
3.2 United States Statutes at Large
All public and private laws enacted each session by the United States Congress are published in chronological order by date of passage in this official version of U.S. law. Concurrent resolutions and Presidential proclamations are also included.
3.3 United States Code
The United States Code (USC) is the codified form of all public, general, and permanent laws of the United States. Codification is the process by which the laws are arranged by subject matter. The complete set of the USC contains 50 titles, and is published every six years, with annual supplements issued between editions.
The federal courts have the judicial responsibility to rule on the constitutionality of federal laws, to interpret and to apply the laws to resolve disputes. The federal courts have "limited" jurisdiction in that they can only decide certain types of cases as determined by Congress or defined in the Constitution. That means the federal courts decide cases interpreting the Constitution, all federal laws, federal regulations and rules, and controversies between states or between the United States and foreign governments.
4.1 U.S. Supreme Court
The U.S. Supreme Court's primary function is to hear cases that question the constitutionality of federal or state statutes. It also hears cases on appeal from the states' highest courts, the federal Courts of Appeal, and the federal District Courts.
4.1.1 U.S. Supreme Court - Cases Before the Court
4.1.2 U.S. Supreme Court - Briefs and Oral Arguments
4.1.3 U.S. Supreme Court - Opinions
Opinions are first issued as slip opinions. A few months later, "preliminary prints" of the United States Reports are printed, and a year later, once the Court has made its final corrections, bound volumes of United States Reports are printed.
4.1.4 U.S. Supreme Court - Secondary Sources
4.2 U.S. Courts of Appeals
There are thirteen U.S. Courts of Appeals including eleven numbered circuits which have regional jurisdiction, a District of Columbia Circuit, and the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit located in Washington, D.C. These courts hear appeals from the U.S. District Courts. Federal appeals court opinions are binding on U.S. District Courts within the circuit and may be appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court.
4.3 U.S. District Courts
The trial court and court of original jurisdiction in the federal system is the United States District Court. District Courts hear civil and criminal cases arising under federal law and cases where citizens of two or more states are in conflict. At least one district, usually more, exists in each state. District Courts usually do not extend across state lines.
Congress has the power to pass legislation but usually leaves the implementation and the enforcement of that legislation to the federal agencies that make up the executive branch. Regulations (also referred to as "rules") are legally binding and can be enforced as statutes.
Like their statutory counterparts, regulations are published by the federal government in two basic formats: chronological and subject matter. The Federal Register publishes the regulations chronologically; the Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) publishes the regulations by subject matter.
5.1 Federal Register
The Federal Register (FR) is the official vehicle for making the regulations and legal notices issued by federal agencies and departments available to the public. These include federal agency documents, such as regulations (proposed, temporary, amended and final) having general applicability and legal effect, documents required to be published by act of Congress, federal agency documents of public interest, meeting notices, and Presidential proclamations and executive orders.
5.2 Code of Federal Regulations (CFR)
The Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) is the codified form of the regulations. Codification is the process by which the regulations are arranged by subject matter. The complete set of the CFR contains 50 titles. For a list of coverage by title, see the Legal Information Institute of Cornell University. Note that the titles of the CFR do not always match the titles of the US Code.
Last updated January 16, 2008
