Legal Research Guides by Course - Federal Legislative Process: Theory, Politics, and Procedure
Course Description
This course explores how federal laws are made, and explores the public policy and political justifications. Understanding the process by which a rule is made and then knowing the reason for the rule allows lawyers to better interpret it and use it for clients. Further, understanding the legislative process allows a lawyer to influence a rule's development or direction. Students will study basic concepts and theory for legislative drafting, taking into account the roles of elected officials, committee staff, and legislative counsel. Additionally, the class will review basic legislative procedures and how they impact a bill's development. Finally, the course will take politics into account, and will address the establishment of legislative history and how courts ultimately interpret legislative intent. Course assignments will include weekly readings and written assignments. The final assignment will be a written paper. (2 credits) Paper
Faculty Who Teach This Course
- Aaron Grau, Esq. (adjunct professor)
Subject Covered Presently in Collection by:
Print Collection
KF4945-KF4951 The Legislative Process
KF4982 Senate - Rules and Procedures
KF4992 House of Representatives - Rules and Procedures
KF5065-KF5068 Executive Branch - Legislative Powers
Legal Research Databases
- Westlaw - Statutory Research on Westlaw - http://lawschool.westlaw.com/shared/marketinfodisplay.asp?code=RE&id=219&rtcode=re&rtid=43&subpage=2
- Lexis
- Bloomberg Law
- Hein Online
- ProQuest Congressional
- CALI under Statutory Interpretation - http://www.cali.org/lesson/1058
- The Legislative Process - US House of Representatives - http://www.house.gov/content/learn/legislative_process/
- Learning About the Legislative Process - US Senate - http://www.senate.gov/pagelayout/legislative/d_three_sections_with_teasers/process.htm
- Legislation (LawBrain) - http://lawbrain.com/wiki/Legislation
- The Legislative Process: How Bills Become Laws or Not (About.com) - http://usgovinfo.about.com/od/uscongress/a/legprocess.htm
- The Legislative Process (Congress.gov) - http://beta.congress.gov/legislative-process
Legislative Process on the House Floor: an Introduction (Congressional Research Service) - http://www.senate.gov/CRSReports/crs-publish.cfm?pid=%26*2H4Q\C8%0A - Legislative Process on the Senate Floor: an Introduction (Congressional Research Service) - http://www.senate.gov/CRSReports/crs-publish.cfm?pid=%26*2D4Q\K3%0A
- How Does Congress Work? (Center on Congress at Indiana University) - http://www.centeroncongress.org/how-does-congress-work
- House Legislative Counsel's Manual on Drafting Style (US House of Representatives, 1995) - http://www.house.gov/legcoun/pdf/draftstyle.pdf
- Selected Congressional Research Service Reports on Congress and Its Procedures (Law Librarians' Society of Washington, DC) - http://www.llsdc.org/crs-congress/
- Drafting Federal Law, 2d edition by Donald Hirsch (US House of Representatives) - http://www.llsdc.org/attachments/files/92/Drafting-Fed-Law.pdf
- Quick Introduction to Legislative Drafting (2012) - http://apps.legacyintl.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/03/Legislative-Drafting-Quick-Reference.pdf
- How Our Laws Are Made by Charles W. Johnson, Parliamentarian (US House of Representatives, USGPO, 2003) - http://www.senate.gov/reference/resources/pdf/howourlawsaremade.pdf
- Statutory Interpretation: General Principles and Recent Trends (Congressional Research Service, 2008) - http://www.fas.org/sgp/crs/misc/97-589.pdf
- Statutory Structure and Legislative Drafting Conventions: A Primer for Judges (Federal Judicial Center, 2008) - http://www.fjc.gov/public/pdf.nsf/lookup/draftcon.pdf/$file/draftcon.pdf
- Law School for Legislatures: Rules of Statutory Interpretation (Michigan Bar, 2008) - http://www.michbar.org/publicpolicy/pdfs/legislators_rules_stat_interp.pdf
- Statutory Default Rules: How to Interpret Unclear Legislation (Harvard University Press, 2008) - http://www.law.harvard.edu/faculty/elhauge/pdf/Chpt%201.pdf
Gumberg Library Databases
- CQ Researcher plus Archive - http://library.cqpress.com.authenticate.library.duq.edu/cqresearcher/
Worldwide Political Science Abstracts - http://search.proquest.com.authenticate.library.duq.edu/wpsa/advanced?accountid=10610
DCLI Webpage Links
- Primary Legal Research: Case Law, Statutory Law, Administrative Law (contains quick links to our federal and state statutes, our federal and state administrative codes, and federal and state case law)
- Legal Research Guides: Administrative Law
Law School Concentrations
- Government and Public Interest Law
Created by Patricia Horvath
1/4/2013