Constitutional Law Seminar

You may contact Janet Sinder, the course liaison, for research-related questions at jsinder@law.umaryland.edu.

Journals & Law Reviews | Books | Statutory Materials | Judicial Materials | Related Websites

Getting Started

With any project, unless you are already knowledgeable about the topic area, it is best to start with basic, introductory resources and then to consult more focused works, moving from secondary sources to primary sources.

Articles and books can provide you with an overview of your topic and help you think of search terms you might not have thought of otherwise. They also cite primary authorities such as statutes and cases. You can use the primary sources cited in secondary sources as a jumping off point to find other primary sources in several ways:

  • Shepardize or KeyCite them to see what other sources have cited them;
  • Read cases to see what other sources they cite;
  • On Westlaw or in West Digests, look up the topics and key numbers in the cases you've already read to find other cases that address the same issues;
  • On Lexis, use "More Like This" or "More Like This Headnote" to find other sources with wording or citation patterns similar to the document or headnote you started with;
  • Read annotations to statutes to find cross references to cases that have analyzed them or regulations that have been issued under their authority.

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Journals & Law Reviews

The two main indexes to law journals are LegalTrac and Index to Legal Periodicals & Books (which includes books as well). These indexes include references to many journals not included in Westlaw or Lexis databases and in some cases provide access to the full text electronically. Each of these two online indexes has a parallel print version: the Current Law Index (K33 .C87), and the Index to Legal Periodicals (K9 .N32) are shelved near the print journals on level 1. The Index to Legal Periodicals is particularly helpful if you need to find articles published prior to 1980. For additional help on finding articles, link to Finding Articles in Legal Journals and Law Reviews.

Most print journals are shelved on level 1 of the library, in alphabetical order by journal title. To find out if the library has a particular journal title in electronic format, use the e-journals link on the Library web page or ask a librarian for help.

Journals:

While most general law reviews publish articles on constitutional law, there are a number that focus specifically on the topic:

Note: Each of the files on Lexis and Westlaw are combined files of journals focusing on Constitutional Law. It is also possible to search these journals individually. Also, don't forget that almost every American law review publishes articles on Constitutional Law.

Lexis:

Westlaw:

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Books

The following is a very brief list of some important Constitutional Law treatises available in the Thurgood Marshall Law Library . For additional books on this topic, use the online catalog to find Constitutional Law treatises available in the Thurgood Marshall Law Library . Some suggested subject headings to search are Constitutional Law - United States or United States - Constitution. For research hints on how to use the catalog, see the Research Guide - Searching the Catalog.

Currie, David P. The Constitution in the Supreme Court : the first hundred years, 1789-1888 / David P. Currie. Chicago : University of Chicago Press, 1985.
GEN STACKS KF4550.C87 1985

Currie, David P. The Constitution in the Supreme Court : the second century, 1888-1986 / David P. Currie. Chicago : University of Chicago Press, c1990.
GEN STACKS KF4550.C873 1990

Fisher, Louis. American constitutional law / Louis Fisher. 5th ed.
Durham, N.C. : Carolina Academic Press, c2003.
GEN STACKS KF4549.F57 2003

Lundmark, Thomas. Power and rights in US constitutional law / Thomas Lundmark.
Dobbs Ferry, N.Y. : Oceana Publications, c2001.
GEN STACKS KF4550.Z9L86 2001

Nowak, John E. Constitutional law / by John E. Nowak, Ronald D. Rotunda. 7th ed.
St. Paul, Minn. : West Pub. Co., 2004.
READING ROOM KF4550.N6 2004

Sheldon, Charles H. Essentials of the American constitution : the Supreme Court and the fundamental law / Charles H. Sheldon ; as edited by Stephen L. Wasby. Boulder, Colo. : Westview Press, 2002.
GEN STACKS KF4550.S455 2002

Tribe, Laurence H. American Constitutonal Law / Laurence H. Tribe, 3rd ed., 2000. New York: Foundation Press, 2000.
READING ROOM KF4550 .T785 2000

The Constitution of the United States of America: Analysis and Interpretation: annotations of cases decided by the Supreme Court of the United States to June 29, 1992 / Johnny H. Killian & George A. Costello, co-eds. Washington, D.C.: U.S. G.P.O. (1996).
GEN STACKS KF4527 .U54 1996

Vile, John R. A companion to the United States Constitution and its amendments / John R. Vile. 4th ed. Westport, Conn. : Praeger, 2006.
GEN STACKS KF4550.V55 2006

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Legislative Materials: The U.S. Constitution

The text of U.S. Constitution can be found in numerous places, both online and in print. The U.S. Code and state codes reprint the U.S. Constitution, and the annotated versions of the U.S. Code (U.S.C.A. and U.S.C.S) include case annotations for each section and amendment.

On the Internet, you can find the U.S. Constitution on GPO Access, Thomas, and many other web sites. Almost any legal web site will include a copy of the Constitution.

Much of the history of the drafting of the Constitution is found in the Federalist Papers, available through the Avalon Project at Yale Law School. Various paper editions are available in the General Stacks at KF4515 .F42.

For more information on federal legislative research, including federal legislative history, see Chapter 5 and Chapter 10 of the Thurgood Marshall Law Library Guide to Legal Research.

Lexis:

Westlaw:

  • United States Code Annotated (once in this database you can go through the Table of Contents to specifically choose sections of the Constitution)
  • LH-1776 (database containing the Federalist Papers and other materials relevant to the drafting of the Constitution)

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Judicial Materials

For general information on finding and updating case law, see Chapter 7 of the Thurgood Marshall Law Library Guide to Legal Research.

Free Resources:

Note: Public case law databases do not include cases dating back as far as the materials in Lexis and Westlaw and it is not recommended that you rely on them for your research. However, many of the databases listed below contain comprehensive and useful docket information for and other information about the U.S. Supreme Court.

  • Supreme Court of the United States - Recent cases and information on the Court's docket, in addition to a lot of other interesting aspects of the Court's work)
  • U.S. Law Week/Supreme Court Today - Provides summaries of all cases active since the beginning of the 1996-97 Supreme Court term. Tracks every Supreme Court petition and case on the docket, from filing to final disposition and highlights important federal and state legal developments, non-decisional and pre-decisional, across specialized fields.
  • U.S. Supreme Court Library (HeinOnline) - Access to online, image-based (PDF) versions of U.S. Reports (1754-2003), U.S. Reports Preliminary Prints (2002-2005), and U.S. Reports Slip Opinions (2002-date). Also contains a variety of (mainly older) treatises on the Supreme Court.
  • FindLaw: US Supreme Court Center - Includes analytical articles as well as docket information.

Lexis:

Tip: If you find one good case on Lexis, you may be able to find others by identifying the headnote that best describes the issue of interest to you, then clicking "More Like This Headnote," or by Shepardizing the case to find other cases that have cited it for the issue represented by that headnote.

While these databases are a good starting point, there may well be relevant cases located in more general Lexis case databases.

Westlaw:

Tip: If you find one good case on Westlaw, you may be able to find others by identifying the headnote(s) that best describes the issue of interest to you, then clicking "Most Cited Cases" for that headnote. You could also try clicking "KeyCite Notes" to find other cases that have cited your case for the issue represented by that headnote.

  • Westlaw does not offer special case databases for Constitutional Law with the exception of some focusing on the First Amendment. You should do your searches in the general Westlaw case databases.

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Related Websites

Listed below are websites with collections specializing in constitutional law:

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