Research Guides: Constitutional Law and Politics: Home

Roz Tedford

She/Her

Email Me

Contact:

ZSR Library
Room 457A

Subjects: African American Studies, American History, English Literature, Law, Political Science, Social Sciences - General

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.

Comparative Constitutions Project
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 genrally begins with the first issue published, so contains over a century of law and legal scholarship.
America: History and Life This link opens in a new window
Search for articles about the history and culure of the United States and Canada. Publications include peer-reviewed journals, magazines, dissertations, books, and more. Access is limited to six simultaneous users. Note: For world history topics, use the Historical Abstracts database. Coverage: 1964-
ProQuest Political Science Database This link opens in a new window
Contains hundreds of leading political science and international relations journals, full-text doctoral dissertations, working papers, conference proceedings, country profiles, political news and other sources. This link cross searches ProQuest Political Science Database, PAIS Index, and Worldwide Political Science Abstracts. 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
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. Access is limited to six simultaneous users. Coverage: 1954-

Books on Constitutional Law

Court Rulings and Opinions

Supreme Court Insight This link opens in a new window
Contains full opinions US Supreme Court including per curiam decisions, dockets, oral arguments, joint appendices and amici briefs, with harmonized subject and organization indexing. Supreme Court Insight also includes Supreme Court Insight Certiorari Denied. Coverage: 1933-Present
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 genrally begins with the first issue published, so contains over a century of law and legal scholarship.
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
Contains comprehensive coverage of the U.S. Reports, an indexed compilation of the official full text of all decisions of the Supreme Court and the official record of its rulings, orders, case tables, and other proceedings. Also includes books, periodicals, CRS reports, rules of the Court, and court history.

SCOTUSblog
Good site for analysis of cases before, during, and after they come before the court.

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
Search across CQ Press content including: 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
All things Congress- full text of: federal bills and laws (1776-present); voting records (1987-present); U.S. Serial Set and American State Papers (1817-present); published and unpublished Congressional hearings from (1824 to present); Congressional Record (1873-present) and its predecessor publications (1789-1873); Congressional Research Service reports (1916-present). 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
HeinOnline This link opens in a new window
Provides hundreds of millions of pages of law and law-adjacent periodicals, essential government documents (federal, state, and international), international resources, case law, and more. Coverage: 1776-

Constitutional Law and Politics

More from ZSR