SJSU Research Guides: Government Information: Federal

Government Publications Catalog

A meta-database from the federal government, the Government Publications Catalog is a federated search engine that searches multiple U.S. Federal government databases, retrieving reports, articles, and citations while providing direct links to selected resources available online.

Congressional Sessions

Bills and Public Laws are identified by the Congressional session. Since 1934, the first session of a Congress convenes on January 3 of odd-numbered years and adjourns on January 3 the following odd-numbered year. Use this link to indentify the year and the Congressional session.

Congressional Serial Set

U.S. Congressional Serial Set, 1817-1994 This link opens in a new window
Includes House & Senate Reports, Senate treaty documents and Senate executive reports, and presidential messages. To see documents before this date, refer to the American State Papers, 1789-1838.
American State Papers This link opens in a new window
Search and browse legislative and executive documents of the first 14 U.S. Congresses. This collection covers such historical events as Lewis and Clark’s Expedition, Burr’s Conspiracy and Arrest, the Treaty of the Creek Indians made by Andrew Jackson and much more. Also includes speeches and messages of Presidents Washington, Adams, Jefferson and Madison. Note: Please refer to the U.S. Congressional Serial Set, 1817-1980 database for post 1816 documents.

Paul Kauppila

Essy Barroso-Ramirez

Subjects: Communication Studies, Political Science

U.S. Legislative Branch

United States Senate

Find U.S. Senators

Find Senate Committees, including membership and links to hearings / meetings.

United States House of Representatives

Find U.S. Representatives by state.

Find House Committees

Educational Resources, including the legislative process (how laws are made) and historical documents (U.S. Constitution, Declaration of Independence, Federalist Papers, and more)

Congressional Research Reports The Congressional Research Service (CRS) does not provide direct public access to its reports, requiring citizens to request them from their Members of Congress. Some Members, as well as several non-profit groups, have posted the reports on their web sites. This site is not affiliated with the Congressional Research Service, but aims to provide integrated, searchable access to many of the full-text CRS reports that have been available at a variety of different web sites since 1990.

HeinOnline Government, Politics, and Law Collection This link opens in a new window
HeinOnline’s Government, Politics & Law contains more than 80 million pages of content across 80,000 titles and 195,000 volumes. HeinOnline bridges the gap in history by providing comprehensive coverage from inception of more than 2,200 periodicals. In addition to its vast collection of journals, the database also contains the Congressional Record bound volumes in entirety, complete coverage of the U.S. Reports back to 1754, constitutions for every country in the world, classic books from the 18th & 19th centuries, all United States Treaties, the Federal Register and CFR from inception, and much more.

U.S. Executive Branch

The President of the United States - includes links to the Briefing Room, Issues, the Administration and Information about the White House.

The Presdent of the United States has the authority to pronounce executive orders. This site links to all major sources for these materials which includes Presidential directives, proclamations, signing statements, executive orders, memoranda, and other documents.

The Executive Departments and Agencies - click on each Cabinet Department for links to headquarters and sub-agencies.

U.S. Judicial Branch

Supreme Court of the United States

Legal databases:

Lexis-Nexis Database (SJSU Articles & Databases page) links to full text coverage of Supreme Court Reports, Lawyers' Edition

Westlaw (SJSU Articles & Databases page) links to full text coverage of the Supreme Court Reports. Also features links to full text historic Supreme Court Cases.

The Federal Judiciary - links to the Federal Courts of Appeals, U.S. District Courts and U.S. Bankruptcy Courts

HeinOnline Government, Politics, and Law Collection This link opens in a new window
HeinOnline’s Government, Politics & Law contains more than 80 million pages of content across 80,000 titles and 195,000 volumes. HeinOnline bridges the gap in history by providing comprehensive coverage from inception of more than 2,200 periodicals. In addition to its vast collection of journals, the database also contains the Congressional Record bound volumes in entirety, complete coverage of the U.S. Reports back to 1754, constitutions for every country in the world, classic books from the 18th & 19th centuries, all United States Treaties, the Federal Register and CFR from inception, and much more.

Federal Legislation

Congress.gov an easy way to find legislation, information about members of Congress and news about our Congress.

The Law Librarians' Society of Washington D.C. has assembled a Legislative Source Book that tracks the status of federal legislation and regulations.

Find Legislation and Records, including votes, Congressional Record, and a link to Congress.Gov. The U.S. bill/law finder are good places to start.

United States Government databases

American Government This link opens in a new window
Contains 12,000+ primary and secondary sources, including 1,200 documents, 4,000 images, 200 maps, and 200 audio/video recordings covering the United States government and political system, including such topics as national security, civil rights, immigration, and health care reform.. This database American Government also provides over 2,100 biographies of important historical and current government figures.
American State Papers This link opens in a new window
Search and browse legislative and executive documents of the first 14 U.S. Congresses. This collection covers such historical events as Lewis and Clark’s Expedition, Burr’s Conspiracy and Arrest, the Treaty of the Creek Indians made by Andrew Jackson and much more. Also includes speeches and messages of Presidents Washington, Adams, Jefferson and Madison. Note: Please refer to the U.S. Congressional Serial Set, 1817-1980 database for post 1816 documents.
C-SPAN Video Library This link opens in a new window
The C-SPAN Archives records, indexes, and archives all C-SPAN programming for historical, educational, research, and archival uses. Every C-SPAN program aired since 1987, now totaling over 160,000 hours, is contained in the C-SPAN Archives. All C-SPAN programs since 1993 are digital and can be viewed online for free. Duplicate copies of programs that have aired since 1987 can be obtained and used for education, research, review or home viewing purposes.