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Category: Research Guide

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Congressional Voting Records: A Beginner’s Guide

Posted by: Barbara Bavis

For the next installment of the Beginner’s Guide series, I turn to a subject that is of recurring interest to our patrons—how to find congressional voting records (also called roll call information). This topic presents more challenges than may be readily apparent, because researchers must not only determine what resources cover the period of time …

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Employment and Labor Law: A Beginner’s Guide

Posted by: Barbara Bavis

This post is co-authored by Barbara Bavis and Robert Brammer, Legal Reference Librarians. Continuing with our Beginner’s Guide series, we turn next to labor and employment law.  This area of the law has been prominent in the news over the past several months, particularly in light of the union stronghold of the Midwest, Michigan, becoming …

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Immigration Law: A Beginner’s Guide

Posted by: Barbara Bavis

While for years immigration has been a much-debated political topic, several issues have caused a recent increase in press attention, including: (1) numerous attempts to pass the DREAM Act in Congress; (2) the recent success of Question 4 in Maryland; and (3) the June 15, 2012 memorandum by Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security …

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Executive Orders: A Beginner’s Guide

Posted by: Barbara Bavis

Although they are not specifically mentioned in the U.S. Constitution, Executive Orders have been considered one of the President’s powers since George Washington’s administration.  Executive Orders are exactly what they sound like—orders produced by the President, as head of the executive branch, that are “generally directed to, and govern actions by, Government officials and agencies.”[1]  …

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Election Laws Around the Globe

Posted by: Clare Feikert-Ahalt

This is a joint post drafted by Clare Feikert and Margaret Wood. The Global Legal Research Center has done a number of briefings and blogs, as well as too many Global Legal Monitor Articles to list, on electoral law across various jurisdictions around the world. The Russian Federation, Parliamentary Elections: Legal Issues, 2008; Elections in …

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Presidential Signing Statements

Posted by: Hanibal Goitom

The following is a guest post by Shameema Rahman, Legal Reference Specialist in our Public Services Division.  Shameema is a frequent contributor to In Custodia Legis; her most recent post was entitled Where Can I Find a Congressional Bill? Law Library patrons often approach us with inquiries on presidential statements.  Examples of these types of inquiries include: …

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Using Secondary Legal Resources to Locate Primary Sources

Posted by: Hanibal Goitom

The following is a guest post by Shameema Rahman, Legal Reference Specialist in our Public Services Division.  Shameema is no stranger to In Custodia Legis. Her previous posts include: World Digital Library and the Qatar Foundation; Classes Offered by the Law Library of Congress; and Researching an Unfamiliar Country’s Law. This spring several of the staff in …

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Researching Federal Statutes

Posted by: Christine Sellers

I recently wrote about the War Powers Resolution research guide available from the Law Library of Congress, which I highlighted because it had been getting a lot of page views. We try to analyze web metrics to see which Law Library web pages are the most viewed, as Andrew and I have mentioned in previous …