HOW TO . . .
Use the Internet to Find and Update the United States Code(1)
BY SALLY J. KELLEY
Prepared for publication in PERSPECTIVES: TEACHING LEGAL RESEARCH AND WRITING (Vol. 7, No. 1 Fall 1998).
© 1998 Sally J. Kelley
NOTE: This article is no longer being updated. For a more current article, see the author's The United States Code on the Web: How to Search and Update It at <http://www.NationalAgLawCenter.org/aglaw/usc/uscswall.htm>. Check out The United States Code on the Web for a description of the new home pages at the U.S. House and Cornell, revised instructions on how to update the Code at these sites, and much more!
Introduction
The printed United States Code (USC), the official subject compilation of federal statutes, was first published in 1926; a new edition, in which all amendments and other changes to statutes are incorporated, has been issued every six years since then. The most recent edition is that of 1994; it contains laws in force on January 4, 1995. Annual cumulative supplements update the USC, but usually are issued a year or more after the laws themselves are passed. One cannot rely on this source for the most current version of federal statutes.
The two best-known commercial print versions of the USC, the United States Code Annotated (USCA) and the United States Code Service (USCS), are updated with pocket parts and advance pamphlets and are within several months of being completely current.(2) Even more current are the versions of these products offered on the online databases of Westlaw (USCA) and LEXIS-NEXIS (USCS) which, with hypertext links to recently enacted amending statutes, usually are within a few weeks of being up to date. The currentness of the CD-ROM versions of the USC vary; some are updated quarterly, some semi-annually, some annually.(3)
However, by searching and updating the United States Code on one of several no-cost sites on the Internet, including searching for newly passed statutes, the provisions of the USC can be updated to within a few days. So, at the same time the Web offers the least expensive access to the Code, it also offers the most current updating information.
USC on the Internet
The United States Code can be found at three well-known free locations on the World Wide Web: the U.S. House of Representatives Internet Law Library <http://law.house.gov/usc.htm>; GPO Access <http://www.access.gpo.gov/congress/cong013.html> and the Legal Information Institute maintained by Cornell Law School <http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/>.(4) In addition to the Code, each site provides references to more recently enacted statutes that amend various Code sections.
Deciding which site to use at any given time will depend on the features, currentness, and updating facilities of each.(5) As with other Internet sites, information changes at the U.S. Code sites throughout the year. Statutory provisions are updated and new searching and updating features may be offered. For example, in August 1998 as this is written, the U.S. House of Representatives site offered the most current updating information. However, GPO Access was the first to load the January 1, 1996 U.S. Code cumulation, and used to have the most current updating facility. Therefore, the researcher is advised to check for currentness of Code sections and review searching and updating procedures each time one of the sites is accessed.
Steps in Using the Internet
Step 1--Identify the Desired Code Section
If you don't have a Code section number, you can do a subject search at all three sites, though each has its own special features for subject searching. For example, you may want to take advantage of the Boolean keyword searching offered at the U.S. House of Representatives and GPO Access sites; the unique Cornell keyword search engine; the ability to keyword search individual Code titles at the U.S. House of Representatives site and the Cornell site; or the special features available for refining your search that Cornell and the U.S. House of Representatives offer. Once you have a Code section, you are ready to begin the updating process, outlined in the following steps.
Step 2--Locate Text of Code Section and Updating References
I recommend that you use the U.S. House of Representatives site for locating your U.S. Code section because it has been, in my experience, the most up-to-date of the three sites for well over a year as of this writing. However, instructions for all three sites are given below. Because information can change so rapidly on the Web, make sure that you check the dates of the materials you're using each time you visit a Web site.
Step 2A--Using the U.S. House of Representatives Site
From the first page of the U.S. House of Representatives site, scroll down the page to the link "An easy way to limit your search to a particular title, section, or similar subdivision" and click on it. Enter the U.S. Code title number (i.e., 20) and section number (i.e., 1106*--truncate with an * here if you wish to retrieve sections 1106, 1106a, 1106b, etc.) in the appropriate boxes and click on "SUBMIT."
The list of documents returned should contain entries for both full-text U.S. Code section(s) and update files for those section(s). You can check the full-text by clicking on its link; note that the date through which that section is updated is included with the link. When the U.S. Code text is displayed, the same date information will be given at the top right. At this point, you can view the full document and download or print as needed.
Go back to the list of documents and select the clearly marked update file, if any, to find out what public laws amended that U.S. Code section. The update file for a U.S. Code section lists amendments, by public law numbers and Statutes at Large citations, enacted between the time the text of the Code was updated (the date listed on the link to the full-text) and the date of the most recent additions to the update files. For example, the files were current as of July 22, 1998, when I searched on August 8, 1998. If no statutes affecting the U.S. Code section were enacted after the text of the Code was updated, there will be no update file for that section. Print or download this list, as you will need its information for further updating, as noted later beginning at step 3.(6)
Step 2B--Using the GPO Access Site
The GPO Access U.S. Code search page now offers the researcher three choices: the 1994 Code (laws in effect as of January 4, 1995); the 1994 Code incorporating Supplement I (laws in effect as of January 16, 1996); and the Code incorporating Supplement II (laws in effect as of January 6, 1997). Highlight the most current option, in this case "United States Code (1994 suppl. 2)."
To find a Code section, enter its citation in the search box in the following format: 20usc153* (no spaces or periods, truncation optional, capitalization of usc optional). From your search results, you can display the desired document and download or print as needed. Notice that the date of the U.S. Code compilation is included at the very top of the page. Immediately below it are references to any amending public laws, i.e., "document affected by public law 105-193." In lieu of amendments, you may find a note such as "document not affected by laws enacted between January 16, 1996 and May 14, 1998." What you won't find in the first instance is when this information was added or last updated. This makes the compilation date, as noted earlier, crucial. For more current information, continue the process with step 3.
Step 2C--Using the Cornell Site(7)
Check United States Code home page at Cornell's Web site for the date of the U.S. Code compilation offered. Next, using the Code section you have identified, click on the link for "a form which permits you to look up specific sections." Enter the title and section in the appropriate boxes and click on "Go to title and section." (Note: Do not truncate the section number. If you want sections 351, 351a, 351b, etc., you must do a separate search for each.) Your search result is the text of the specified Code section, which you can download or print as needed. (Be aware that the accompanying notes are in a different file. Click on the "Note" box at the top of the page to retrieve them.)
The "Update" box on the text screen, which leads to a page titled Update Process. You will see links to the 104th Congress; 105th Congress, 1st Session; and 105th Congress, 2nd Session. These files contain the U.S. Code Classification Tables(8)obtained from the U.S. House site (but, as of this writing, they are not as current as the original tables at the U.S. House site! <http://uscode.house.gov/uscct.htm>).
Consult each of these links to learn which public laws have amended your Code section and to obtain the public law cite and Statutes at Large site for each amendment. As of this writing, the Cornell Code contains laws enacted through January 16, 1996. So, in the 104th Congress table, start with public law 104-99, the beginning of the Second Session of that Congress. Then, through the other two links, locate all of the amendments listed for the 105th Congress. Also, note the public law and date coverage given at the top of the third or last table, as you will need this information later. Next, proceed to Step 3.
However, once you have identified your Code section, my recommendation is: do not update through Cornell at all. Instead, for a more convenient and current search, follow my recommendation in Step 2, Locate text of Code Section and Updating References, to retrieve your Code section and updating text from the U.S. House site. Therefore, proceed to Step 2A, Using the U.S. House of Representatives Site. There you can take advantage of the more recent compilation and updating information offered by the U.S. House.
Step 3--Locate the Updating Public Laws
[NOTE: It is imperative at this point to know the date of your Code full-text source and of all updating material.]
Next, you need to locate the text of the public law(s) listed in the U.S. House of Representatives update file or listed with the GPO Access Code text. (Reminder: Both the print slip laws and the GPO Access Web site public laws are official sources.) The Web versions of public laws for 1995 (104th Congress) forward are found at the GPO Access site. At the GPO Access Public Laws search page (<http://www.access.gpo.gov/nara/nara005.html>), choose whether to search the 104th or 105th Congress and enter a query using the following pattern: "public law 105-11." (Use quotation marks to show that this is a phrase.)(9)
The public laws at GPO Access include U.S.C. notes and Statutes at Large page numbers. You can use the "search" or "find" function on your Web browser to find a specific Statutes at Large page or the U.S. Code section reference. (Note: In slip laws, some Code citations contain the abbreviation "U.S.C." with periods after each letter and others use "USC" without periods. It's necessary to do your search twice, using both forms.)
Step 4--Search the Slip Laws to Find More Recent Amendments
To locate amendments to your Code section enacted more recently than those found above (usually changes within the last month or two), go to the GPO Access Public Laws search page and choose the 105th Congress. Enter a query using the following pattern to make sure you retrieve all the relevant public laws: "7 usc 2011*" OR "7 u.s.c. 2011*." (Connect the phrases with a capital OR.) Look for hits after the date of the House of Representatives update files or enacted after the last public law covered in the GPO Access U.S. Code files.
Step 5--Search for Very Recent Enactments
To look for laws which may have been enacted in the last few days since the last slip laws were loaded into the GPO Access public law files, search the 105th Congress bill file on GPO Access or Thomas. On either service, look for bills that were enrolled (passed by both houses of Congress and sent to the President) after the last amendment identified in step 4 above. (WARNING: Be aware that these enrolled bills may not yet have been signed or vetoed by the President; look for a public law number. The enrolled version does not have the enhancements of the official slip laws, and a search for a U.S. Code section in an enrolled bill will not be as accurate as a Code section search of a slip law.)
Conclusion
It is worth mentioning again that the Internet researcher needs to check for the currentness of the U.S. Code and the currentness of the update notes each time the Code is accessed. The researcher should also remember that Web sites constantly change in other ways. Features, user interfaces, methods of updating, and search languages are all likely to be updated, enhanced, or added from time to time. A final caveat: although federal slip laws on the Web (at GPO Access) are official sources, the United States Code on the Web is not. Researchers are advised to follow the warning at the U.S. House of Representatives site and verify the Internet results with the printed U.S. Code, to the extent that the corresponding print version has been issued.
The researcher who keeps all of this in mind and who uses the search strategy outlined above can take advantage of the fact that the Web offers the both the least expensive way to search the United States Code and the most current updating information.
© 1998 Sally J. Kelley
1. A Web version of this article, including hypertext links to all the Internet sites mentioned, is available at Univ. Ark. Sch. Law, National Center for Agricultural Law Research and Information <http://law.uark.edu/arklaw/aglaw/usc/uscupdate.htm>. This article is based in part on Sally J. Kelley, The United States Code on the World Wide Web: How to Search and Update It, SWALL Bull., May 1998, at 5, updated at <http://law.uark.edu/arklaw/aglaw/usc/uscswall.htm> (hereinafter Kelley I) and on Sally J. Kelley, The United States Code on the World Wide Web: Where to Find It, Its Currency, and How to Update It, 1997 Ark. L. Notes 127 (hereinafter Kelley II).
2. For instructions for using the United States Code Annotated and the United States Code Service, see Lydia Potthoff, Teachable Moments: "How Can I Find the Most Current Text of a Codified Federal Statute?," 5 Perspectives: Teaching Legal Res. & Writing 128 (1997).
3. CD-ROM versions of the U.S. Code include: United States Code Unannotated (Gould Pub.) (updated annually); Federal Appeals on Disc (HyperLaw) (updated quarterly); FedLaw EasySearch (Oryx Press) (not yet published; update frequency not yet determined); LOIS Professional Library: U.S. Code (LOIS) (quarterly updates, plus weekly updates through N-Line system); USCS--Federal Law on Disc (LEXIS Law Publishing) (updated quarterly, with additional direct updating connection available through LEXIS online service); USCA (West Group) (quarterly updates, with additional direct updating connection available via WESTLAW's public law file (US-PL)); United States Code (U.S. Government Printing Office) (annual).
4. There are also several fee-based Web sites that offer the U.S. Code, including Legi-Slate, Current Legal Resources, LEXIS-NEXIS (USCS), Westlaw (USCA), LOIS, and CIS Congressional Universe (USCS). Most of these services offer more recent cumulations than do the free sites, but these compilations are done in house and not officially by the federal government. Of course, that is true of commercial versions in other media as well.
5. See Kelley I and Kelley II, supra note 1, for more complete descriptions of the features, search mechanics, currentness, and updating facilities of each of the three sites.
6. The U.S. Code Classification Table <http://uscode.house.gov/uscct.htm>, also available at the U.S. House of Representatives site, is another way to find up-to-date references for each U.S. Code section and would be an alternative to the update files. Its currentness, which is given on the U.S.C. home page, is the same as that of the references in the update files.
7. If you access the U.S. Code from Cornell's Constitutions, Statutes, and Codes page <http://www.law.cornell.edu/statutes.html>, you will notice two choices after "Full U.S. Code:". The first, "LII Hypertext Version," goes to the Cornell-prepared version of the U.S. Code, based on the GPO CD-ROM. The second, "U.S. House of Representatives Searchable Version," links to the U.S. House of Representatives Web site.
8. See supra note 6.
9. Alternatively, the U.S. House of Representatives USC home page provides a link to the GPO Gate public law search page. GPO Gate is a user-friendly gateway to GPO Access provided by the University of California. You may also locate public laws through Thomas (see, e.g., <http://thomas.loc.gov/bss/d105/d105laws.htm> for the public laws of the 105th Congress), which is maintained by the Library of Congress. The Thomas public law files have links to the GPO Access slip laws.