Constitution of the United States of America: Analysis and Interpretation
Main Ref KF4527 .U54 2002
Updated online via govinfo.
A great place to start research on the U.S. Constitution. Includes analysis and footnotes to Supreme Court cases and law review articles.
Gale Encyclopedia of American Law, (online, 2022)
Black's Law Dictionary Best Bet
Main Ref KF156 .B53 2014
Black's Law Dictionary is also in Westlaw under All Content > Secondary Sources.
The Constitutional Law Dictionary
Main Ref KF4548.5 .C47 1985
Encyclopedia of Constitutional Amendments, Proposed Amendments, and Amending Issues, 1789-2002
Main Ref KF4557 .V555 2003
Encyclopedia of the American Constitution
Main Ref KF4548 .E53 2000
The Evolving Constitution: how the Supreme Court has ruled on issues from abortion to zoning
Main Ref KF4548 .L54 1992
Oxford Companion to the Supreme Court of the United States
Main Ref KF8742.A35 O93 2005 (print, online)
FindLaw
A legal information site.
Legal Information Institute from the Cornell Law School
Overview of law written in clear language for the lay person.
More Reference sources.
The series
Landmark law cases & American society includes books on cases and issues. CBB holds many of these volumes, such as the ones listed below. Others can be searched (on the name of the series) in
WorldCat.
Affirmative action on trial : sex discrimination in Johnson v. Santa Clara
Dred Scott and the politics of slavery
Gibbons v. Ogden : John Marshall, steamboats, and the commerce clause
Marbury v. Madison : the origins and legacy of judicial review
How to Read a U.S. Supreme Court Opinion, American Bar Association, Insights on Law and Society 13 (2012).
The bluebook : a uniform system of citation
Main Ref Research Lab KF245 .B58 20th 2015
The standard legal citation guide. I recommend the Quick Style Guide.
Earlier editions of the Blue Book may be available from the Wayback Machine.
Introduction to Basic Legal Citation (LII)
Peter W. Martin, Cornell Law School.
Style and Citation Guides
Bowdoin Library maintains this list of resources for Chicago, Bluebook, and other styles.
I recommend using Bluebook or Chicago (notes and bibliography) style for your citations because those styles are better suited for citing legal materials. It is actually more difficult to craft citations using other styles because they provide only limited direction and few models for how to cite legal materials. That said, see also Style and Citation Guides.
Guide to foreign and international legal citations, New York University School of Law
Main Ref K89 .G84 2006
Cardiff Index to Legal Abbreviations.
Searchable by abbreviation or by title. "This database allows you to search for the meaning of abbreviations for English language legal publications, from the British Isles, the Commonwealth and the United States, including those covering international and comparative law. A wide selection of major foreign language law publications is also included. Publications from over 295 jurisdictions are featured in the Index. The database mainly covers law reports and law periodicals but some other legal publications are also included."
