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Administrative Law Research: Secondary Sources

Resources to help you get started with Administrative law research.

Using Secondary Sources

Looseleafs cover agency developments and can contain background materials, analysis and citations to primary materials to help you understand issues. Newsletters and online sources of information will keep your information current. Both cover agency and court decisions as well as regulatory and legislative developments. 

Oversight and Independent Organizations

  • The Administrative Conference of the United States is an independent federal regulatory agency which promotes fair and effective dispute resolution and wide public participation and efficiency in the rulemaking process. Their website contains research, recommendations, best practices and other publications.

 

  • The Cato Institute promotes  limited government, free markets, individual liberty, and peace. They publishes numerous policy studies, briefing papers, periodicals, and books which are available on their website. 

 

  • The Center for Regulatory Effectiveness provides indepedent analysis of agency regulations, serving as a "regulatory watchdog". Their website features information and analysis on a variety of regualtory issues. 

 

  • The Competitive Enterprise Institute is a government oversight organization dedicated to free enterprise. Their website contains press releases and policy papers, testimony and other reports and documents related to their efforts.

 

  • The Institute for Policy Integrity at NYU School of Law advocates for sound cost-benefit analysis at the state, national, and global levels. Their website contains overviews of the issues they address, publications and reports as well as news and current awareness about regulatory policy.

 

 

 

Online Sources

  • The ACUS Federal Administrative Procedure Sourcebook "is an annotated compilation of the key legal sources governing nearly every aspect of administrative procedure. It provides an overview of the major laws governing administrative procedure and offers access to statutory text, legislative history, agency regulations, guidance documents, law review articles, and other sources of relevant information."
     
  • The ABA Administrative Procedure Database Archive contains information about federal and state administrative law among legislators, lawyers, hearing officers, judges, and citizens. The archives has the full text of the 1941 Attorney General Report, 1947 Attorney General Manual, Recommendations of the Administrative Conference, ACUS Bibligraphy and more. 
     
  • The C-SPAN Video Library is a searchable archive of C-SPAN videos from 1987. Searches may be limited to congressional committees and congressional proceedings, among other things, to retrieve hearings and floor debate for legislative history use. Also includes Executive Branch material, such as press conferences and speeches.
     
  • FdSys, formerly GPO Access offers browsing and searching of key primary government documents, such as congressional bills and committee reports and hearings, the Congressional Record, public laws, presidential documents, and the Federal Register.
     
  • Federal Register contains the official daily publication for rules, proposed rules and other Federal Information as published in the Federal Register.  
     
  • FOIA.gov is the website for the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA), a law that gives you the right to access information from the federal government.
     
  • Government Accountability Office (GAO) Reports and Decisions site contains reports and testimonies arranged chronologically.
     
  • Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs Dashboard contains information on the regulatory process. Graphic depictions, allows sorting rules by agency, length of review, state of rulemaking, and economic significance.
     
  • The Public Papers of the Presidents from the University of Michigan is a collection of material compiled and published by the Office of the Federal Register, National Archives and Records Administration. It includes volumes covering the past 12 presidents. As subsequent volumes are published, they will be added online. 
     
  • Regulations.gov  contains all federal regulations open for public comment (i.e., proposed rules) and closed for comment (i.e., final rules) as published in the Federal Register. Also includes Federal Agency notices published in the Federal Register and additional supporting materials, public comments, federal agency guidance and adjudications.
     
  • Statistical Abstract of the United States is the authoritative and comprehensive summary of statistics on the social, political, and economic organization of the United States. Includes references and links to sources of more information electronically and in print. Sources of data include the Census Bureau, Bureau of Labor Statistics, Bureau of Economic Analysis, and many other Federal agencies and private organizations. 
     
  • USA.gov is the easiest way to identify the agency that you need to research.

Relevant Databases @ Pence

Bloomberg Law contains legal news sources in the way of "Dailies" and "Reports", manuals and guides, databases of primary and secondary sources and Tax Management Portfolios.

IntelliConnect CCH contains materials on topics such as taxation, securities, health law, banking and bankruptcy and government contracts and many more.  Features include news and newsletters, as well as cases, administrative decisions, laws and regulations and analysis.