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Federal Legal Resources and the Government Shutdown

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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