Research Guides: Government Information: U.S. Federal Government

Federal Depository Library Program

Federal Depository Library

The UO is a depository library for the following governments and IGOs:
U.S. Federal Depository Library Program: since 1883
State of Oregon: since 1907.
Government of Canada: Since 1965. (Canada no longer depositing print publications.)
European Union: Since 1965.
World Trade Organization: Since 1995.

U.S. Federal Government

Sites that cover all of the three branches of government (Congress, Executive, and Judiciary), or that have wide applicability:

USA.gov
The federal government's official portal. Searchable by subject, service, government agency, and more.
Catalog of Government Publications
All publications that go through the Government Publishing Office (GPO) are cataloged here, from 1976-present
govinfo
A service of GPO to provide free public access to the full text of official publications from all three branches of the Federal Government. When you search the content available on govinfo, you will be able to download the full text of publications but you won’t see records for documents that are not stored on govinfo.
FOIA - Freedom of Information Act
Learn about the 3 branches of the U.S. government

Because the US Congress generates a very large amount of information and publications, see this separate guide:

Government Information - U.S. Congress
by Kathy Stroud Last Updated Nov 8, 2024 347 views this year

A-Z Index of Government Departments & Agencies
The Executive branch contains a large number of departments, offices, agencies, etc. For example, the Department of Energy or the Bureau of Indian Affairs. They are all listed alphabetically here.

The President

The White House
The official web site of the current administration.
Executive Orders and Other Presidential Documents: Sources and Explanations
Research links from the Law Librarians' Society of Washington, D.C.
Presidential Directives and Executive Orders
A compilation from the Federation of American Scientists, going back to the Truman administration.
Presidential Papers, Speeches, and Executive Orders
A guide to sources at the UO Libraries and online.

Rules and Regulations

Rules and regulations are issued by the various executive agencies. Proposed and final rules are published in the Federal Register, and then codified in the Code of Federal Regulations.

Federal Register
From the GPO, browseable by date.
Federal Register
Home of the Office of the Federal Register.
Code of Federal Regulations
From 1996-present. The most current updates are what is currently in force.

Constitution of the United States: Analysis and Interpretation

U.S. Supreme Court

U.S. Supreme Court (official site)
Oyez
Nonprofit site with Supreme Court opinions, summaries, profiles of justices, and audio of oral arguments.
iSCOTUS
Supreme Court news blog.
Supreme Court Decisions, 1990-present
From the Legal Information Institute at Cornell University Law School

Federal Courts (All other U.S. federal courts, including District, Appellate, and specialized federal courts such as Bankruptcy, Tax, etc.)

"Federal courts hear cases involving the constitutionality of a law, cases involving the laws and treaties of the U.S. ambassadors and public ministers, disputes between two or more states, admiralty law, also known as maritime law, and bankruptcy cases."

United States Courts
Official government site with information on the U.S. federal courts system.

Nexis Uni This link opens in a new window
A commercial database on which you can search and access federal cases.
Thomson Reuters Westlaw This link opens in a new window
Comprehensive database of legal materials, on which you can search and access federal cases.