USA

USA.gov

USA.gov is the main portal to US federal, state and tribal government information on the web. It offers an A-Z of government departments (with links), a directory of web-based government services and contact details for all sorts of government bodies. The Explore Topics section includes a Public Safety and Law page with links to courts and legislatures and a Reference and General Government page with links to official publications, statistics, a glossary of federal government abbreviations, laws and other materials.

United States House of Representatives

The website of the US House of Representatives includes schedules of debates and committee hearings, information about votes and current bills and a directory of Representatives. The full text of current and older bills can be accessed via links to the Library of Congress’s Thomas website. The United States Code, which is produced by the Office of the Law Revision Counsel of the House, is also available, together with links to individual public laws (1995 to date and 1789 to 1875).

FindLaw Cases and Codes

Findlaw is a US website owned by Thomson Reuters. Its Cases and Codes section provides free access to federal case law, the US Constitution and the US Code (a compilation of federal laws in force). State constitutions, state case law and some state codes are also available, together with materials such as bills and city ordinances. The case law files typically go back to the 1990s, but the US Supreme Court opinions go back to 1893.

Rulemaking Gateway

The Rulemaking Gateway is a website of the United States Environmental Protection Agency. It provides free access for the public to the status of the EPA's priority rulemakings. The Gateway includes rules that have not yet been proposed, those open for public comment, those for which EPA is working on a final rule and those that have been recently finalised. Priority rulemakings are determined by regulatory managers based on criteria such as environmental significance, impact on the economy, external interest and effect on other EPA programmes.

Office of the Legal Adviser

This website outlines the work of the Office of the Legal Adviser and makes available US official publications and information about international law. The Treaty Affairs section provides the current edition of Treaties in Force; the Treaties and Other International Acts Series (TIAS) from 1996 to 2003; information about multilateral treaties deposited with the US Government; details of treaty actions; and a list of treaties pending in the Senate. The Digest of United States Practice in International Law is available from 1989/90 onwards.

Actual innocence and freestanding claims for relief

Online guide to the claim of actual innocence in US law written by Ken Strutin, who is Director of Legal Information Services at the New York State Defenders Association. The guide was published in November 2010 on LLRX.com. The author gives an introduction explaining the term ‘actual innocence ‘and how it has been used to contest wrongful convictions. There are abstracts of scholarly articles with links to the full text. Some of the articles linked to are available on subscription sites only. Links are also given to cases and relevant legislation.

Solitary confinement

Online guide to solitary confinement written by Ken Strutin who is Director of Legal Information Services at the New York State Defenders Association. The article was published in 2010 on LLRX.com (Law Library Resource Xchange) a free online web journal for legal information professionals.

Judgepedia- an interactive encyclopaedia of courts and judges

The Judgepedia website is a wiki focusing on United States courts and judges. Anyone can contribute to the wiki by registering on the site. Judgepedia is sponsored by the Lucy Burns Institute a non-profit organisation concerned with helping people access public records. Information is organised under four main headings: Federal Courts; State Courts; Judicial Selection and Judicial Philosophy. There is also a page of news stories and a Judgepedia community page. Within these sections can be found information about each court, its judges and links to court websites.

Legal Information Institute (Cornell Law School)

The Cornell Legal Information Institute (LII), founded in 1992, provides free access to US federal and state legal material, including US Supreme Court decisions, decisions of the US Courts of Appeals and other federal courts, the US Constitution, the United States Code, state constitutions and statutes (via links to state websites), and state regulations. Secondary materials on the site include 'Wex', an open access legal dictionary and encyclopedia, and the 'Introduction to Basic Legal Citation' by Peter W. Martin.

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