Legal Resources on the Internet: Federal Resources

FDsys vs. Govinfo.gov

FDsys is the current home for govenment publications like the Federal Register, The U.S. Code, the Federal Budget as well as hundreds of other federal publication. You can browse a list of publications available here. Eventually, FDsys will be replaced by a new website, GovInfo. GovInfo is currently in beta testing, which means the government is collecting feedback from the public on the new website while it transfers information to GovInfo. No specific timeline has been released for the switch from FDsys to GovInfo. 

Congress.gov

A service of the Library of Congress providing access to federal bills, laws and other congressional documents. Congress.gov replaced the Thomas website on July 5, 2016.

USA.gov

Easy-to-search centralized place to find information from local, state and U.S. Government agency websites. Also a great place to find US government forms.

United States Courts

The official website for the federal judiciary. Some features include

• The Court Locator, with links to individual federal court websites.
  
• Federal Court forms, including Bankruptcy forms, civil action and criminal court forms.
  
• Links to federal court records from Pacer (for downloading court records) and CM-ECF (for uploading court records).
  
• Federal Court Rules, including Rules of Evidence, Rules of Civil and Criminal Practice, Bankruptcy and Appellate Rules. Be sure to keep up to date with pending changes to the Federal Court Rules.