How do I find legislation (laws) or court cases?

My instructor is requiring me to find legislation (laws) or court cases relevant to my research topic. How do I find this kind of legal information?

Answer

Start with background research! It’s difficult to find laws or cases without one or more of these details:

A citation (e.g. 545 U.S. 1)
Party names (e.g. Gonzales v. Raich), or
The name of a law (e.g. Controlled Substances Act)
State and year in which law was passed

Background research can help identify some of these details. Start with FCC Library OneSearch, which searches several FCC databases at the same time.

Use the "Source Type" filter and select "Research Starters."
Other good sources of background information could be: magazines; news; trade publications; ebooks; reports; and videos.

The best individual FCC Library databases for background research on legal topics are:

Use broad, subject keywords in these databases. Within the sources you find, look for named cases or laws, and then search for those case or law names on the internet. Submit a request for research help from an FCC librarian, if needed.