Walker Library: Political Science: Law

Federal Law and Legislation -- Library Databases

HeinOnline Academic This link opens in a new window
Full-text, digital legal and historical materials.
Collections included:
ABA Law Library Collection Periodicals
Brennan Center for Justice Publications at NYU School of Law
Business and Legal Aspects of Sports and Entertainment (BLASE)
Criminal Justice & Criminology
Democracy in America
Federal Register Library
Foreign Relations of the United States
Gun Regulation and Legislation in America
History of International Law
History of Supreme Court Nominations
Immigration Law & Policy in the U.S.
John F. Kennedy Assassination Collection
Law Journal Library
Legal Classics
McGill Institute of Air and Space Law Publications
National Survey of State Laws
Pentagon Papers
Prestatehood Legal Materials
Preview of United States Supreme Court Cases
Religion and the Law
Reports of U.S. Presidential Commissions and Other Advisory Bodies
Slavery in America and the World: History, Culture & Law
U.S. Code
U.S. Congressional Documents Library
U.S. Congressional Serial Set
U.S. Federal Agency Documents, Decisions, and Appeals
U.S. Federal Legislative History Library
U.S. Presidential Library
U.S. Presidential Impeachment Library
U.S. Statutes at Large
U.S. Supreme Court Library
U.S. Treaties and Agreements Library
Women and the Law (Peggy)
World Constitutions Illustrated
Government, Politics & Law Collection (Hein Online) This link opens in a new window
Searchable, image-based government document and legal research database.
Comprehensive coverage from inception of both U.S. statutory materials and more than 2,300 scholarly journals, all of the world’s constitutions, all U.S. treaties, collections of classic treatises and presidential documents, and access to the full text of federal case law powered by Fastcase.
Westlaw Campus Research This link opens in a new window
Business and legal resources, including state and federal laws and court cases.
PACER: Public Access to Court Electronic Records This link opens in a new window
PACER provides online access to federal district and appellate court records and documents. MTSU faculty may request access for themselves or their students using this link.
Index to Legal Periodicals Full Text This link opens in a new window
Legal journals, law reviews, bar association journals, university publications, yearbooks, institutes, and government publications.
CQ Almanac This link opens in a new window
Reference for studying the U.S. Congress, 1945 - 2010.
Preview of the United States Supreme Court Cases This link opens in a new window
Expert analysis of all cases given plenary review by the Supreme Court. Issues published in advance of the Court's seven annual argument sessions, with a final annual review issue. Coverage: 1973 - current.
Eight issues per year. Issues 1-7 precede the Court's seven argument sessions from October to April. Published in July following the close of the Court's term at the end of June, Issue 8 reviews the term using a combination of charts, statistics, case summaries, and essays. Published by American Bar Association.

Discussion of Landmark Supreme Court Cases (videos and text)
Making of Modern Law: American Civil Liberties Union Papers
ACLU records on free speech, citizenship, race, discrimination, and other topics.

State Law and Legislation

State Law Search by Topic
Search individual laws of all 50 states by topic.
Tennessee Code Annotated (Westlaw)
Tennessee Code Unannoted (Lexis free public access)
Tennessee State Statutes (HeinOnline)
Current and historical superseded state statutes.
Tennessee Attorney General Opinions
Access to the state's attorney general reports and opinions, which constitute integral elements in the state's framework of governing law.
Tennessee Session Laws
Session laws back to inception and to current laws
Tennessee State Reports
Guide to published court reports and how they interrelate with the National Reporter System, with linking to the full text of historical state reports.
Tennessee Political & Legal History (HeinOnline)
Collection of books and texts covering Tennessee's legal, historical, social, geographic, and economic makeup.
Tennessee Constitution (Lexis free public access)

Annotated vs. Unannotated -- What's the difference?

Unannotated codes includes the text of the statutes and history notes identifying the origin and amendments for each statute.

Annotated codes have the same unannotated information plus case citations interpreting the statute, regulations pertaining to the statute, and secondary sources discussing the statute

Westlaw Help

Law and Legislation -- Free Websites

Google Scholar This link opens in a new window Published opinions of US state appellate and supreme court cases (1950-current), US federal district, appellate, tax and bankruptcy courts (1923-current), and US Supreme Court cases (1971-current). Also includes citations for cases cited by indexed opinions or journal articles which allows you to find influential cases (usually older or international) which are not yet online or publicly available.

Congress.gov House and Senate bills, hearings, debates, and committee reports; public and private laws; and The Congressional Record.
FDsys (Federal Digital System) U.S. Code, Supreme Court decisions, the Federal Register, Code of Federal Regulations, Compilation of Presidential Documents, and selected agency reports.
Tennessee General Assembly Senate and House of Representatives
Public Law Library Requires users to sign-up for a free account. Follow links to federal and state statutes, regulations, constitutions, and court rules for: U.S. Supreme Court (1791-current), U.S. Courts of Appeals (circa 1950-current), and state appellate courts (1997-current).
FindLaw Case law from the U.S. Supreme Court and U.S. Circuit Courts of Appeal, as well as several state supreme courts. Use the “Advanced Search” link found under the “Search for a Case” tab on the left-hand side of the page. Use the drop-down menus to select a court, legal topic, and/or industry. You may also search by date, docket number, and party name. On the case summary screen, click “Read” to gain full-text access to the case.
Justia Cases from the U.S. Supreme Court, U.S. Circuit Courts of Appeal, and U.S. District Courts. Additionally, you may find links to many state supreme court and intermediate court of appeal cases. To locate a case, enter a keyword into the search box and use the drop-down menu to choose a jurisdiction, or simply click on a hyperlinked jurisdiction, choose a court and date, and then browse through a list of cases.
Leagle Opinions and decisions handed down by U.S. Courts for both published and unpublished cases since 1950.
Guide to Law Online (Library of Congress) Annotated guide to sources about government and law. Includes links to useful and reliable sites for legal information.

Reference Books and Ebooks -- Library Resources

The Bluebook: A Uniform System of Citation (20th Ed.)
Black's Law Dictionary (11th Ed., 2019) useful tool for learning the meaning of unfamiliar legal terms. Definition entries in Black's often include alternate terms that help you conduct later research for primary resources, as well as cross-references to other dictionary entries that may be relevant.
Gale Encyclopedia of American Law - 14 volumes by Tyrkus (4th edition, 2022) Covers today's leading cases, major statutes, legal terms and concepts, notable persons involved with the law, and important documents. Includes previous topics such as the Americans with Disabilities Act, capital punishment, domestic violence, gay and lesbian rights, physician-assisted suicide and more, plus new topics including cryptocurrency, transgender rights, and the 2020 elections.
Encyclopedia of Law and Society: American and Global Perspectives
The Oxford International Encyclopedia of Legal History by Katz (2009) Historical and contemporary comparisons of the world legal systems. Covers legal history from ancient to modern times.