Legislative History: The Point-and-Click Method

A picture is worth a thousand words, especially when you're doing legislative history research.

We're referring to the tabbed Legislative History–Federal page on Westlaw, which displays an interactive diagram of the congressional legislative process. If you need documents (e.g., historical bills, committee reports, or presidential messages) from a specific step of the legislative process, all you have to do is click a step in the diagram, and a search page for databases relevant to that step is displayed.

For example, to search databases related to legislative debate on a bill, click Legislative debate on bill. A Search page is displayed that contains check boxes for databases such as Congressional Record (CR), U.S. Congressional Testimony (USTESTIMONY), and U.S. Code Congressional and Administrative News (USCCAN). Type your search in the Search text box, then use the check boxes to select one or more databases and click Search Westlaw.

Legislative History Updates

The Legislative History–Federal page also features federal legislative history updates. Click Legislative History Updates in the left frame for instant access to new public laws, congressional reports, executive orders, presidential messages and signing statements, and recent significant court decisions.

Adding the Legislative History–Federal page

To use the Legislative History–Federal page, click Add a Tab at the top of any page. At the next page, click Add Westlaw Tabs to display a list of available tabbed pages. Then click Legislative History-Fed under Jurisdictional–Federal. You can then use this page for your current Westlaw session.

[Note: For easy access to a Search page for state-specific legislative history materials, use the Legislative History–State page.]