Finding Federal Government Documents
Use the navigation menu to jump to resources for a specific branch of government.
- GovInfo.gov (formerly FDsys)A portal to free public access to official government publications from all three branches of the Federal Government provided by the U.S. Government Publishing Office (GPO)
- USA.gov This link opens in a new windowUSA.gov is the official U.S. gateway & search engine for all government information on the internet.
- Military & Government Collection (EBSCO) This link opens in a new windowThe Military & Government Collection provides current news pertaining to all branches of the military.
- Catalog of U.S. Government Publications This link opens in a new windowThis online catalog consists of bibliographic records published in the Monthly Catalog of United States Government Publications.
Executive Branch
The Executive Branch includes the offices of the President, Vice President, and most of the Executive agencies such as the Department of Commerce, the Department of Energy, the Department of Health & Human Services, etc.
More resources for Executive Branch documents can be found in the Finding Federal Government Documents section above.
- United States Government ManualEntries give information on agencies of the federal government.
Encyclopedia of Federal Agencies and Commissions by
Encyclopedia of Federal Agencies and Commissions fills a gap that exists for an accessible reference to the federal bureaucracy of the United States government. A unique resource, it provides lucid and clearly written entries on all the branches of government and the agencies that function under them. These entries detail the history and the inner-workings of these agencies, as well as the role they play in the government as a whole. In addition to the entries, a glossary of bureaucratic terminology is included that will be of interest to students of political science, as well as appendixes containing organizational charts and contact information for each agency.
Call Number: Click title to check availabilityPublication Date: 2004
Legislative Branch
The Legislative Branch includes all of Congress, both the Senate and House of Representatives, as well as the Library of Congress, the Congressional Budget Office, and the Government Accountability Office. Congress is responsible for the creation and implementation of all statute law. For more information see:
- ProQuest Congressional This link opens in a new window
This link opens in a new window
Subjects covered include law, political science, government, and related fields. Find hearing transcripts and submitted testimony, Committee reports, Bills, Public laws, Selected committee prints, Congressional documents, Congressional Record, Federal Register, Current Code of Federal Regulations, and the current US Code. - Congress.gov (formerly THOMAS) This link opens in a new windowSubjects covered include law, government, political science, history, and reference. Find bill summaries & status, full text of bills, major legislation enacted into law and more.
- Congressional DirectoryOfficial directory of the U.S. Congress. Includes biographies of members, committee memberships, etc.
Judicial Branch
The Judicial Branch includes not only the network of circuit and appeals courts culminating in the U.S. Supreme Court, but also specialized courts such as the U.S. Tax Court, the Customs Court, etc.
- Finding Court Cases guideA more detailed guide to the resources available for finding specific court cases.
The Oxford Guide to United States Supreme Court Decisions by
The Supreme Court has been the site of some of the great debates of American history, from child labor and prayer in the schools, to busing and abortion. The Oxford Guide to United States Supreme Court Decisions offers lively and insightful accounts of the most important cases ever arguedbefore the Court, from Marbury v. Madison and Scott v. Sandford (the Dred Scott decision) to Brown v. Board of Education and Roe v. Wade. This new edition of the Guide contains more than 450 entries on major Supreme Court cases, including 53 new entries on the latest landmark rulings. Among the new entries are Bush v. Gore, Nixon v. United States, Gonzales v. Planned Parenthood Federation of America, and Rumsfeld v. Forum for Academicand Institutional Rights. Four decisionsHamdi v. Bush, Hamdan v. Rumsfeld, Rasu v. Bush, and Rumsfeld v. Padillaare considered in a single essay entitled Enemy Combatant Cases. Arranged alphabetically and written by eminent legal scholars, each entry provides the United States Reports citation, thedate the case was argued and decided, the vote of the Justices, who wrote the opinion for the Court, who concurred, and who dissented. More important, the entries feature an informative account of the particulars of the case, the legal and social background, the reasoning behind the Courts decision,and the cases impact on American society. For this edition, Ely has added an extensive Further Reading section and revised the Case Index and Topical Index. For anyone interested in the great controversies of our time, this invaluable book is a must reada primer on the epic constitutional battles that have informed American life.
Call Number: Click title to check availabilityPublication Date: 2009
Essential Supreme Court Decisions by
Revised and now in its 16th edition, Essential Supreme Court Decisions: Summaries of Leading Cases in U.S. Constitutional Law is the most up-to-date and historically thorough guide to the American Supreme Court s most monumental rulings available today. It proves an indispensable resource for students, lawyers, and anyone interested in our nation's Constitution, and the decisions that continue to shape, define, and challenge it. The Supreme Court grapples every day with issues fundamental to our democracy from religious expression to freedom of speech to cruel and unusual punishment rulings. Terrorism, profiling, same-sex marriage, police stop-and-search statutes, voting rights and our personal right to privacy, and recent landmark rulings regarding all of these issues are analyzed in this edition, showing us the modern iterations of debates that have raged in some shape or form in America throughout its history."
Call Number: Click title to check availabilityPublication Date: 2014
