Library of Congress: Legal Reports

June 20, 2023

Yesterday I bragged on the tour of the Library of Congress that I was able to attend on Friday. Today I’m going to spill the tea on one of the many amazing LOC resources I learned about on that tour: Legal Reports.

First things first, how can you find them?

Go to law.gov.

Click on “Legal Reports,” circled in red below:

Now click on “topic” in the left-hand menu, circled in red below:

When you do that, you’ll see a long list of topics. Guess what? Immigration is on that list (see red circle below)! Click it.

You’re now looking at a list of Publications of the Library of Congress on the topic of immigration. What does that mean? Well, as the LOC notes on its landing page for Legal Reports: “The Law Library of Congress produces reports on foreign, comparative, and international law in response to requests from Members of Congress, Congressional staff and committees, the federal courts, executive branch agencies, and others. Selected reports are provided for the public for reference purposes only and do not constitute legal advice. The information provided reflects research undertaken as of the date of writing, which has not updated unless specifically noted.”

You can sort the returns by Date, Title, Shelf Order, Relevance. And you can narrow your results via the left-hand menu by things like Format, Date, Location, Contributor, Subject, and Language.