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Federal Legal Resources and the Government Shutdown

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Legal researchers accustomed to accessing resources on federal government websites may find themselves temporarily inconvenienced, as some government websites have been closed during the current government shutdown.  The following is a brief summary of what legal researchers can expect from a few of the more popular government websites during the shutdown:
  • The Library of Congress website has been closed, with the exceptions of the THOMAS and beta.congress.gov pages.
  • FDsys will continue to update congressional materials, but Federal Register services will be restricted and no other collections will be updated.  Older materials and search functions remain available.
  • The National Archives will continue to update the Federal Register.
  • The USA.gov website will remain available.
  • The Department of Justice website will not be regularly updated, but existing reports and legislative histories remain available.
  • The PACER website remains available.
  • The Census website and the sites it hosts, such as American Factfinder, are closed.
  • The Data.gov website is closed.
  • The Supreme Court website will remain available at least through October 4, but Supreme Court operations will be reviewed if the shutdown continued beyond that date.
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