For federal topics, a number of secondary sources may
be consulted.
Law review articles are frequently helpful. Electronic
(LegalTrac and Index to Legal Periodicals)
and print (Current Law Index) indexing sources
are searchable either by subject keyword or by the popular
name of a relevant statute (e.g., the Americans With
Disabilities Act). Both Lexis and Westlaw provide databases
that include legal periodicals and some texts. These
may be searched either by Boolean or natural language
searches.
A.L.R. Federal provides heavily annotated articles on current
issues. It may be searched through its print indexes or electronically
on Westlaw.
In some areas of federal law, authoritative treatises
may be a very valuable source both for background analysis
and citations to primary authorities. One such subject
area is civil procedure, in which useful treatises include
Charles Alan Wright et al., Federal Practice and
Procedure (KF8816.W7) (often referred to as "Wright
& Miller") and Moore's Federal Practice
(KF8816.M63). For other subject areas, try using the
library catalog or searching on Westlaw in the databases
which include treatises.
American Jurisprudence 2d has relatively
good coverage of many federal topics.
Cross-references to many secondary sources are provided
in the federal annotated codes, U.S.C.A. and U.S.C.S.
If you know the relevant statute, try looking in these
codes for references to other materials. These references
appear after the statutory language and before the case
annotations.
