Research Guides: Constitutional Law and Politics: Home

Roz Tedford

Rosalind Tedford

She/Her

Email Me

Contact:

ZSR Library
Room 457A

Subjects: American History, English Literature, Law, Political Science

Welcome

This research guide is designed for students doing research in Constitutional politics, policy, law, and legal issues. If you run into any problems, or need more assistance, don't hesitate to use the calendar to request a personal research session. ~ Rosalind Tedford

Background/Context Sources

US Constitution Sources

CQ Press Library This link opens in a new window
This has a Supreme Court Collection, The Supreme Court Compendium and other good content.
State Constitutions This link opens in a new window
State Constitutions is a collection of the constitutions of the 50 states of the United States with related documents and resources. Containing the text of every constitution with the original, consolidated and current texts and an collection of documents from before statehood.

Supreme Court Compendium
A serial publication that includes data and context on the SCOTUS, Judges, Courts and more.
Founders Constitution
Wests Encyclopedia of American Law (2005)
Gale Encyclopedia of American Law (2022)
Native American Constitutions and Legal Materials

Comparative Constitution Sources

World Constitutions Illustrated This link opens in a new window
This collection includes the current constitution for every country in its original language format and an English translation, as well as substantial constitutional histories.

The Constitute Project
From the developers of The Founders Constitution, this site lets you research and compare world constitutions.
Political Database of the Americas: Constitutions
For the study of constitutions in Latin America

Law and Other Scholarly Journal Articles

The following are databases that you can use to find scholarly journal articles about Constitutional Law in the US and other countries. I have listed them in the order I would use them, but depending on your topic, you might find them more or less useful.

HeinOnline Law Journal Library This link opens in a new window
Contains more than 2,000 law and law-related periodicals. Coverage is from the first issue published for all periodicals and goes through the most-currently published issues allowed based on contracts with publishers.
America: History and Life This link opens in a new window
America: History and Life provides abstracts and citations from reviews and dissertations about the history and culture of the United States and Canada from the earliest recorded times to the present. See Historical Abstracts for world history. Coverage: 1964-
ProQuest Political Science Database This link opens in a new window
This link cross searches ProQuest Political Science Database, PAIS Index, and Worldwide Political Science Abstracts. Users can access hundreds of leading political science and international relations journals with full-text of many core titles. In addition, over a thousand recent full-text doctoral dissertations on political science topics are included, together with working papers, conference proceedings, country profiles, political news and other sources. Coverage: 1985-
JSTOR This link opens in a new window
A full-text database of archived issues of academic journals. Since JSTOR is a backfiles project, a typical coverage range is the beginning of a journal until three or five years ago. Supported in part by the Dail Endowment Fund. Coverage: Varies
Historical Abstracts This link opens in a new window
Historical Abstracts provides indexing and abstracts for journal articles, books, and dissertations covering the history of the world from 1450-- except the U.S. and Canada. For similar coverage of the U.S. and Canada, use America History and Life. Coverage: 1954-

Books on Constitutional Law

Court Rulings and Opinions

CQ Press Library This link opens in a new window
Follow the link to the Supreme Court Collection for a variety of content.

Supreme Court Arguments and Opinions
The Supreme Court web site has links to arguments, briefs, opinions and more.

HeinOnline Law Journal Library This link opens in a new window
Contains more than 2,000 law and law-related periodicals. Coverage is from the first issue published for all periodicals and goes through the most-currently published issues allowed based on contracts with publishers.
Nexis Uni (Formerly LexisNexis Academic) This link opens in a new window
Nexis Uni features more than 15,000 news, business and legal sources, including U.S. Supreme Court decisions dating back to 1790.
U.S. Supreme Court Library HeinOnline This link opens in a new window
HeinOnline’s U.S. Supreme Court Library contains comprehensive coverage of the U.S. Reports, which is the official source of United States Supreme Court case law. Since the publication of the official U.S. Reports is generally delayed by several years, the United States Reports Preliminary Prints and the United States Reports Slip Opinions are also included in this database.

Web Info On Amendments

FindLaws Amendments Page
List of amendments with lengthy information in the annotations of definitions, caselaw, background and other resources on the particular issue.
Cornell School of Law Page
Another great page with annotations that provide additional information.
National Archives Charters of Freedom Page
A wonderful multimedia presentation of the constitution and the amendments. Links to additional primary sources and background information.
The Founders Constitution
Online version of the book!
National Conference of State Legislatures

Primary Sources in American Politics

American Presidency Project
Full text of a wide variety of presidential documents including speeches, letters, radio addresses, press releases and more.
A-Z Index of US Federal Departments and Agencies
Often the best place to get primary source material from the US Government Agencies is from their web sites.

CQ Press Library This link opens in a new window
The place to search or browse resources on American government, current affairs, history, politics, public policy, and data analysis for the social sciences. Includes Congress Collection, CQ Almanac, CQ Magazine, Encyclopedia of American Government, Politics in America, Public Affairs Collection, Supreme Court Collection, Voting and Elections Collection, Political Handbook of the World, and Supreme Court Compendium. Coverage: 1983-
ProQuest Congressional This link opens in a new window
Provides indexing and full text of federal bills, laws, and regulations as well as information on Congress, voting records, legislative histories from 1789 to the present, and current legislative activities. Also contains the full text of the U.S. Serial Set and American State Papers from 1789-2003. Also includes indexing and full text of published and unpublished Congressional Hearings from 1829 to present. Includes the Congressional Record from 1873-present and its predecessor publications from 1789-1873. Coverage: 1789-present
Legislative Insight This link opens in a new window
Legislative histories, including complete text of enacted laws and the full text of associated congressional documents (Congressional Record excerpts, committee hearings, etc.). Coverage: 1929-2012
Hein Online This link opens in a new window
Contains the full text of over 300 academic legal periodicals. Coverage begins at the earliest issue for each journal. Also includes the pre-1981 Federal Register, U.S. Supreme Court documents, and Treaties and Agreements Coverage: 1776-

Constitutional Law and Politics

More from ZSR