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Judges and the Judiciary: Exploring America's Court System

This library brings together materials on the composition, structure, oversight, and procedures of the judiciary, analyzing how the courts touch the lives of everyday Americans.

Documents and Content

Congress and the Courts (Legislative History)

When first launched to customers, this database was built around Bernard D. Reams, Jr., et al.’s Congress and the Courts: A Legislative History, 1787-2018, which collected documents relating to congressional concern with the composition and structure of Article III Courts. 

What's Article III?

Article III of the U.S. Constitution states:

"The judicial power of the United States, shall be vested in one Supreme Court, and in such inferior courts as the Congress may from time to time ordain and establish. The judges, both of the supreme and inferior courts, shall hold their offices during good behaviour, and shall, at stated times, receive for their services, a compensation, which shall not be diminished during their continuance in office."

Article III courts are:

  • The Supreme Court
  • The 13 U.S. appellate courts
  • The 94 U.S. district courts

This legislative history is vital to understand the role of Congress in administering and interacting with Article III Courts. The legislative history consists of more than 70 volumes and is divided into seven parts that users can browse:

 Legislative history listed out in reverse order by volume, with an option to browse by part at the top of the list.

 

 

Congressional Hearings

The deliberations of Congress provide insight both into issues requiring federal attention and their proposed solutions.

A hearing is a meeting or session of a Senate, House, joint, or special committee of Congress. Hearings are held:

  • to obtain information and opinions on proposed legislation.
  • to conduct an investigation.
  • to evaluate/oversee the activities of a government department or the implementation of a federal law.

In addition, hearings may also be purely exploratory in nature, providing testimony and data about topics of current interest. Most hearings are published two months to two years after they are held. This material provides a transcript of the proceedings for the general public.

Some Congressional Hearings of Note:

 

CRS and GAO Reports

Find thousands of reports on a diverse range of topics, including affirmative action, youth employment, technology in the workplace, self-employment, and more, authored by the Congressional Research Service (CRS) and Government Accountability Office (GAO).

What are these agencies?

  • The Congressional Research Service is a public policy research institute of the U.S. Congress
    • Its job is to help Congress form sound policies based on analysis and research
    • Access CRS Reports on topics other than judges and the judiciary by navigating to HeinOnline’s U.S. Congressional Documents database and selecting the CRS Reports subcollection
  • The General Accountability Office is a legislative branch agency
    • It provides auditing, evaluation, and investigative services for the U.S. Congress
    • Staff produce reports and written correspondence, testimonies and statements for the record, briefings for congressional staff members, and more
    • Access GAO Reports on topics other than judges and the judiciary through HeinOnline's dedicated GAO Reports and Comptroller General Decisions database
Some reports of note:

Federal Judicial Center Publications

Locate hundreds of titles published by the Federal Judicial Center, the education and research agency for the federal courts. The main tasks of the Federal Judicial Center are to conduct policy research and offer a variety of continuing education resources for employees within the judicial branch. Additionally, it collects and creates resources that detail the history of the U.S. judicial branch. The Center was established by Congress in 1967, and its governing board is chaired by the Chief Justice of the United States.

A chapter titled "The Handmaid of Justice: Power and Procedure in the Federal Courts," from a Federal Judicial Center publications.

Federal Rules

Federal Rules are the rules established by Congress to govern proceedings within civil and criminal trials in U.S. federal courts. These 200+ rules:

  • include guidelines on criminal and civil procedure, bankruptcy, appellate procedure, and more.
  • rules date back to the early 1900s, allowing users can see how these guidelines have changed over time. 
  • rules are periodically amended by Congress to reflect changes in the legal system and to improve their efficiency and fairness. 

First page of the Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure, amended to December 1, 2022

History of Supreme Court Nominations

One of Congress's major responsibilities is to confirm judges, and there is no bigger American judicial stage than the U.S. Supreme Court. Learn all about the successful and unsuccessful nominations to the nation's highest court with HeinOnline's History of Supreme Court Nominations.* 

Easily skip into this collection from the dedicated tab in Judges and the Judiciary. All done checking out History of Supreme Court Nominations? Hop right back into Judges and the Judiciary from its own tab linking back.

*separate subscription required.

Overview of Judges and the Judiciary homepage with tab to History of Supreme Court Nominations highlighted.

 

 

CFR and U.S. Code

The Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) and the U.S. Code represent the current statutory positions of the federal government.

Published annually, the CFR is divided into 50 titles (aka subjects) that are the codification of the general and permanent rules published in the Federal Register by the executive departments and agencies of the federal government.

The U.S. Code, divided into 53 titles, is the official compilation and codification of the general and permanent federal statutes of the United States. Main editions of the U.S. Code are published every six years, with supplements published annually. Unlike the CFR, the U.S. Code does not include regulations issued by executive branch agencies.

Extracted within this database are the following relevant titles:

CFR Title 28: Judicial Administration

U.S. Code Title 18: Crimes and Criminal Procedure

U.S. Code Title 28: Judiciary and Judicial Procedure

 

Legislative Histories

Legislative histories present the journey of a bill as it becomes a law, with all its changes, additions, deletions and various legislative hurdles.

Some legislative histories of note included in this database are:

Periodicals, Articles, & Books

Find thousands of historical and current publications chosen by our editors for their relevancy to the American judiciary. Users can explore more than 20 periodicals, such as:

Users can also browse scholarly articles, sorting articles by title, author, number of citations, or year published, or search the articles by title or author.

Additionally, users can find more than 1,300 related works, with notable titles including: