Tag Archives: Law Librarians of Congress

Find Bills and Amendments and Who Sponsored Them.

25 Sunday Mar 2018

Posted by in Government

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How to Locate the Bills and Amendments a Member of Congress has Sponsored or Cosponsored in Congress.gov, by Robert Brammer, In Custodia Legis, Law Librarians of Congress

https://bit.ly/2I1mESZ

This looks handy. -CCE

One of the questions we are frequently asked is how to locate a bill or amendment that a member of Congress has sponsored or cosponsored. There are a few ways to do this on Congress.gov.

  1. Visit a member profile page

Locate a member you are interested in and open their member profile page. Next, you can use the filters on the left-hand side of the screen to narrow down your results. For example, if you are only interested in legislation that the member sponsored or cosponsored in the 115th Congress, under “Congress”, click on “115”. You can also use the filters in combination with one another to further narrow down your results.

If you are looking at a member profile page for a current member of Congress, note that you can click “get alerts” at the top, left-hand side of the screen to sign up to receive an email each time that member sponsors or cosponsors legislation.

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Update to Historical Statutes At Large Online.

19 Monday Feb 2018

Posted by in Appellate Law, Federal Law, Library of Congress, Research

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More Historical Statutes at Large Available Online, by Jennifer González, In Custodia Legis, Law Librarians of Congress

http://bit.ly/2Fdv49P

The individual statutes for congresses 68 through 81 are now available on the Law Library of Congress website. This addition closes the gap for the years for which the Statutes at Large were not available on the Internet. As with the volumes for previous congresses, each of these statutes is tagged with tailored, descriptive metadata to help users search and browse by facets.

Say Goodbye to THOMAS.

15 Sunday May 2016

Posted by in Congress.gov, Government, Research, THOMAS

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Time to Turn off THOMAS: July 5, 2016, by Andrew Weber, In Custodia Legis, Law Librarians of Congress

http://blogs.loc.gov/law/2016/04/time-to-turn-off-thomas-july-5-2016/?loclr=ealln

THOMAS appeared online on January 5, 1995: http://www.loc.gov/today/pr/1995/95-002.html?loclr=bloglaw. 

THOMAS will be retired on July 5, 2016, and replaced by Congress.gov, which was always the intent when Congress.gov came online in September, 2012.  Congress.gov was designed to replace THOMAS, and it has features that THOMAS did not, and never could, have.

You can find all posts at www.researchingparalegal.com about the additions and improvements made to Congress.gov since its inception here:

https://researchingparalegal.com//?s=congress.gov&search=Go.

Please take a NEW long look at Congress.gov here: https://www.congress.gov/.  There is much, much more to see.  -CCE

Beginner’s Guides on Researching Federal Legislative Intent.

13 Sunday Mar 2016

Posted by in Federal Law, Legislative History, Library of Congress, Research, U.S. Government

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Presidential Communications: A Beginner’s Guide, co-authored by Robert Brammer and Barbara Bavis, Research Guide, In Custodia Legis, Law Librarians of Congress

http://blogs.loc.gov/law/category/research-guide-2/

Please keep going after clicking on this link. The following posts are beginner’s guides to locating: (1) congressional documents; (2) a congressional committee print, (3) compiled federal legislative history; and (4) unpublished congressional hearing. Keep going – there is more. If you are interested in honing your research skills, learn how to research legislative intent at the state and federal level. -CCE

Enhancements to Congress.gov and “How To” on Legislative Research From The Law Librarians of Congress.

27 Sunday Dec 2015

Posted by in Library of Congress, Research, THOMAS, U.S. Government

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New End of Year Congress.gov Enhancements: Quick Search, Congressional Record Index, and More, by Andrew Weber, In Custodia Legis, Law Librarians of Congress

http://blogs.loc.gov/law/2015/12/new-end-of-year-congress-gov-enhancements-quick-search-congressional-record-index-and-more/

You may not have heard that THOMAS will be retired by the Library of Congress.  Congress.gov will take its place, and you won’t be disappointed. This post includes more that has been added to Congress.gov, including links to state legislative research. Scroll down the page to see a list of all enhancements thus far to Congress.gov. It is definitely worth a read.

If you are not familiar with how to do legislative research, this Beginner’s Guide will help you. -CCE

Locating a Congressional Committee Print: A Beginner’s Guide, co-authored by Robert Brammer and Barbara Bavis, In Custodia Legis, Law Librarians of Congress

http://blogs.loc.gov/law/category/research-guide-2/

Congress.gov – With New Features and Improvements.

01 Saturday Aug 2015

Posted by in Federal Law, Library of Congress, Research, U.S. Government

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New Features Added to Congress.gov Based On Your Feedback, by Robert Brammer, Law Librarians of Congress, In Custodia Legis

http://blogs.loc.gov/law/2015/07/new-features-added-to-congress-gov-based-on-your-feedback/

The website describes the enhancements, such as email alerts, in detail with instructions on how to use them. The website requests your continued feedback for future ways to improve the website. -CCE

Since the unveiling of Congress.gov in September of 2012, we have been constantly adding new features with each release, and many of the features in this release are based directly on your feedback. . . .

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Beginner’s Research Guide to Lemon Laws and Consumer Protection Law.

10 Friday Apr 2015

Posted by in Case Law, Consumer Law, Federal Law, Internet, Legal Directories, Lemon Laws, Library of Congress, Mandatory Law, Primary Law, Research, State Law, Statutes, Westlaw

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Lemon Laws: A Beginner’s Guide, Barbara Bavis and Robert Brammer, In Custodia Legis, Law Librarians of Congress

http://blogs.loc.gov/law/2015/04/lemon-laws-a-beginners-guide/?loclr=eaiclb

You are really getting two for one (and more) with this post. Please note the hyperlink to consumer protection law in the first sentence. Both posts provide guides on how to research both subjects. Click on “Legal Research” to the left once you are at the website, and you will find the link to all posts at this website on how to research other laws. -CCE

In response to our last post on consumer protection law, we determined there was additional interest in ‘lemon laws.’  Lemon laws are defined by Black’s Law Dictionary as statutes ‘designed to protect a consumer who buys a substandard automobile, usu[ally] by requiring the manufacturer or dealer either to replace the vehicle or to refund the full purchase price.’ So, if you find that the new car of your dreams is actually a waking nightmare, you can use this guide to determine what recourse you might have. Lemon laws vary by state, but this guide should help get you started with your research. . . .

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Beginner’s Guide to U.S. Treaties.

21 Friday Nov 2014

Posted by in International Law, Native American Law, Treaties

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U.S. Treaties: A Beginner’s Guide, co-authored by Barbara Bavis and Robert Brammer, In Custodia Legis, Law Librarians of Congress

http://blogs.loc.gov/law/2014/11/u-s-treaties-a-beginners-guide/

Article II, Section 2 of the U.S. Constitution states that the President ‘shall have Power, by and with the Advice and Consent of the Senate, to make Treaties, provided two thirds of the Senators present concur…. ‘ An early attempt by the President and Senate to negotiate the exercise of this power provided an interesting anecdote. According to the Senate Historical Office, on August 22, 1789, President Washington traveled to the Senate to submit a treaty concerning Native American Indian Tribes. While the President waited, the Senate decided to postpone consideration of the treaty rather than debate the questions in front of the President. According to Maclay’s Journal an irritated, President Washington exclaimed, “This defeats every purpose of my coming here!” and resolved to submit subsequent treaty communications to the Senate in writing. To learn more about the development of the treaty power and its application, please refer to the United States Constitution: Analysis and Interpretation’s discussion of Article II, Section 2.

There are several options for researchers trying to find copies of treaties to which the United States is or was a party. In fact, we were inspired to write this post by the new Treaties digital collection added to the Law Library of Congress website. As of now, the digital collection includes a digital copy of the first four volumes of Charles I. Bevans’s Treaties and Other International Agreements of the United States of America, 1776-1949, which includes copies of the English version (or English translation) of multilateral treaties to which the United States was a party. Digital copies of the remaining volumes (5-12), which include the bilateral treaties to which the United States was a party during this period, will be added in the near future.

The Treaties page also links to the United States Department of State’s Treaties and Other International Acts webpage, which includes PDF copies of the ‘executed English-language original of [each published international] agreement and certain other key documents’ for published international agreements entered into from 1996 to the present. The Treaties and Other International Acts series (also known as TIAS), which is ‘the official print publication format for treaties and agreements that have entered into force for [the] U.S.,’ was published by the Government Printing Office in paper form from 1945 to 2006, but is now available online. . . .

Beginner’s Guide to Landlord-Tenant Law.

25 Saturday Oct 2014

Posted by in Landlord/Tenant Law

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Landlord-Tenant Law: A Beginner’s Guide, by Barbara Bavis, In Custodia Legis, Law Librarians of Congress (This post is coauthored by Barbara Bavis and Robert Brammer, legal reference specialists.)

http://tinyurl.com/o997gpx

It is no wonder that we get a large number of questions about landlord-tenant law at the Law Library of Congress, in light of the fact that residential leasing, and the rights and obligations that stem from such agreements, is a pressing legal issue for many of our patrons.  Much of landlord-tenant law is state-specific, and as such, those wanting to do detailed legal research in this area might want to visit their local public law library.  However, we have collected some information below regarding books, websites, and other resources, that might help a researcher just beginning their landlord-tenant research. . . .

New and Improved Congress.gov – Resource Section.

27 Saturday Sep 2014

Posted by in Government

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Congress.gov: Removing the Beta Label and New Enhancements, by Andrew Weber, In Custodia Legis, Law Librarians of Congress

http://tinyurl.com/otfqt3s

The Library of Congress launched Congress.gov in beta two years ago. Today, I’m happy to announce we officially removed the beta label. That’s roughly three years quicker than Gmail took to remove its beta label, but we won’t give you the option of putting it back on Congress.gov. URLs that include beta. Congress.gov will be redirected to Congress.gov.

There are a range of new enhancements in this release. One of the exciting additions is a new Resources section. This section provides an A-to-Z list of hundreds of links related to Congress. If you are not sure where something is located, try looking through this list. I quickly jump through the list using Ctrl+F and searching. You can find the new Resources page in the navigation on the top right or in the footer on every page. . . .

Revisiting Civil Rights Case Mendez v. Westminster.

17 Saturday May 2014

Posted by in Appellate Law, Segregation, United States Supreme Court

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Before Brown v. Board of Education There Was Méndez v. Westminster, by Francisco Macías, In Custodia Lexis, Law Librarians of Congress

http://tinyurl.com/lplvmwa

As I wrote about earlier in the blog, the case Hernández v. Texas was decided just two weeks prior to Brown; but there is another little-known case that was instrumental for the American civil rights movement: Méndez v. Westminster. While many scholars of educational desegregation assure us that the beginning of the end of the ‘separate but equal’ doctrine was set underway with Brown v. Board of Education. It could be argued that the beginning of that end may actually date back seven years prior, Méndez v. Westminster, which ended the almost 100 years of segregation that had remained a practice since the end of the U.S.-Mexico War of 1848 and the signing of the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo. The end of the U.S.-Mexico War gave rise to ‘anti-immigrant sentiments [that] resulted in increased measures to segregate Mexican-Americans from so-called ‘white’ public institutions such as swimming pools, parks, schools, and eating establishments.’. . .