skills/cite-check/references/authority-sources/united-states.md

# United States authority sources

Use this page to acquire readable United States authorities for `/cite-check`. Search public services with citation metadata only. Never send a confidential brief, excerpt, record, or matter facts to a public service merely to find an authority.

The United States has federal, state, territorial, and tribal legal systems, and no single public portal covers all of them.

## Case law

- For Supreme Court decisions, start with the Court's official [Supreme Court opinions page](https://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/opinions.aspx) and [United States Reports](https://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/USReports.aspx). The Court explains that a slip opinion may be revised before it is replaced by the preliminary print and bound-volume version. Preserve the complete opinion package, including relevant concurrences or dissents, and record which version and revision date were checked.
- For other federal decisions, start with the issuing court's official site through the U.S. Courts' [court website links](https://www.uscourts.gov/about-federal-courts/court-role-and-structure/court-website-links). The Government Publishing Office's [United States Courts Opinions collection](https://www.govinfo.gov/help/uscourts) provides authenticated files from selected United States appellate, district, and bankruptcy courts, generally from 2004 forward, but warns that some holdings are incomplete. Do not generalize one court's availability to another court or time period.
- [CourtListener](https://www.courtlistener.com/) can be a supplementary locator. Its operator describes collections of [American case law, federal filings, and Supreme Court and state-court materials](https://wiki.free.law/c/courtlistener/help/data-coverage), but publishes collection-specific coverage limits. Do not describe CourtListener as an official or complete source. Confirm the decision's identity, status, and readable text against the issuing court, GovInfo, or a lawyer-supplied authorized copy before substantive checking.
- For a state or territory, use the issuing court's official opinion service. The Law Library of Congress's [U.S. states and territories guides](https://guides.loc.gov/us-states-territories) can help locate those services, but each court's own coverage, publication, citation, and access rules control. For a tribal authority, use the issuing court or government's official source where available and ask the lawyer for the complete decision when it is not publicly accessible.

A firm may instead use an authorized subscription legal-research service. Follow the same complete-file and source-identity boundaries in the [Westlaw acquisition guidance](../getting-authorities.md#recommended-westlaw-workflow), and use the firm's approved citator when later treatment or current good-law status matters.

## Legislation and regulations

- Use the House Office of the Law Revision Counsel's [United States Code](https://uscode.house.gov/about_code.xhtml) for the current online Code and its currency information. Record the title, section, release point or as-of date, positive-law status when material, and any relevant source-credit or amendment note. For enacted text or a non-positive-law-title conflict, consult the [United States Statutes at Large](https://www.govinfo.gov/help/statute), the permanent chronological collection of enacted federal laws.
- Use [Congress.gov](https://www.congress.gov/about) for federal bills, actions, committee reports, the Congressional Record, and related legislative materials. A bill text, summary, or status page is not an enacted law; preserve the exact document version and Congress, and use the public law or Statutes at Large when enactment matters.
- Use the [eCFR](https://www.ecfr.gov/reader-aids/understanding-the-ecfr/what-is-the-ecfr) to locate current federal regulatory text, but retain its stated status as an authoritative but unofficial editorial compilation. When legal status or timing matters, verify against the official annual [Code of Federal Regulations](https://www.govinfo.gov/help/cfr), the official daily [Federal Register](https://www.govinfo.gov/help/fr), and the List of CFR Sections Affected. [FederalRegister.gov](https://www.federalregister.gov/) is a useful searchable presentation, but preserve the official document when legal status matters. Use [Regulations.gov](https://www.regulations.gov/) for public rulemaking dockets, comments, and supporting material where available; preserve the agency, docket and document IDs, version, and retrieval date, and do not assume the online docket is complete.
- For national federal court rules, use the U.S. Courts' official [Current Rules of Practice and Procedure](https://www.uscourts.gov/forms-rules/current-rules-practice-procedure) and check the stated effective date and any pending amendment. Obtain local rules, standing orders, and judge-specific procedures from the issuing court's official site. For agency decisions, enforcement orders, and other adjudicatory material, use the issuing agency's official repository and obtain the complete administrative record when the proposition depends on it.
- For state or territory constitutions, codes, session laws, regulations, and registers, use the issuing government's official service. The Law Library of Congress guides can help locate it. Preserve the exact jurisdiction, version, effective date, amendment or history material, and source URL.

## Case-specific materials

Use [PACER](https://pacer.uscourts.gov/) for the official electronic public record of federal appellate, district, and bankruptcy matters when the needed material is not on the court's public site. PACER requires an account and some access may incur fees; use files obtained by the lawyer rather than asking for credentials in chat. A docket may still omit sealed, restricted, redacted, or unavailable material.

CourtListener's [RECAP Archive](https://www.courtlistener.com/recap/) can be a supplementary source for publicly contributed federal docket entries and filings, but it is not the official docket and is not complete. Confirm the docket number, document number, filing date, and readable content against PACER, the issuing court, or the matter workspace. Never upload confidential, sealed, restricted, or nonpublic material to a public repository.

For Supreme Court matters, use the Court's official [docket search](https://www.supremecourt.gov/docket/docket.aspx) for available filings and orders. For a state, territorial, or tribal matter, use the issuing court's authorized access route. In every system, obtain the complete needed pleadings, exhibits, transcripts, orders, and record from the matter workspace or an authorized court process.

## Preserve the evidence boundary

Do not assume complete coverage. A search result, repository copy, docket entry, or subscription-service document does not establish currentness, later treatment, binding effect, official publication, or a complete case record. Preserve the citation metadata, court or issuing body, date, docket or document number, source URL, retrieval date, complete readable file, version, and pinpoint. Add the file to the supplied authority set before checking what it says.