United States Constitution

• Article VI:  Supreme Law of the Land
• Research usually in cases:  judicial interpretation and judicial review
• Text:  U.S. Code, USCA, USCS, GPO FDSys, Black's Law Dictionary, OCGA, online sources

Annotated Constitutions

• Constitution volumes in code sets
• Judicial decisions
• Use like code volumes
• Pocket parts and supplements
• United States Code Annotated (Range 301)
  • 28 volumes with supplements and index
  • Federal and state decisions
  • Alphabetical index to annotations
  • Citations to law reviews, Executive Orders, Attorney General opinions, West publications
  • West Bookstore description
• United States Code Service (Range 301)
  • 8 volumes with pocket parts and supplements
  • Annotations by subject
  • Cross-references to ALR, AmJur2d, Federal Procedure L.Ed., law reviews
  • Fewer annotations, more selective
  • Lexis Bookstore description
• Official Code of Georgia Annotated 
  Georgia cases on U.S. (volume 1) and Georgia (volume 2) constitutions
• Popular Names of Constitutional Provisions
  • Univ. of Washington list, with text

Constitution:  Analysis and Interpretation

• Annotations of cases decided by the Supreme Court
• Prepared by the Congressional Research Service
• Most recent: Serial Set 14866, Sen. Docs. 108-17 (2002edition),  108-19 (2004 supplement), 110-17 (2008 supp.), 111-39 (2010 supp.)
• Print:  Docs-Ref

CRS Annotated Constitution Online

• FDSys:  Senate Document
• Download pdf volumes, browse articles and amendments.    Pocketpart supplements separate.
• 1992 and 2002 editions with 2004, 2006, 2008, 2010  supplements available
• To search:  use advanced search, select "additional government publications,"  find the Constitution set in the Publications field, then add search terms in additional full-text search field boxes
• Or, search in the individual pdf volumes
• Justia
  • 2002 edition with the 2004 supplement integrated.  Links to cited cases in the annotations.

Court Interpretations

• Annotated codes (USCA, USCS)
• Annotated Constitution:  Analysis and Interpretation
• Digests (Constitutional Law and other topics)
• Supreme Court decisions on the web (Findlaw, Cornell LII , Supreme Court website)
• ALR Fed. and Supreme Court Reports L.Ed. annotations
• BNA US Law Week
• Westlaw USCA database annotations
• Lexis USCS-Constitution annotations

Updating

• Shepard's U.S. Citations and State Citators
• Keycite (Westlaw) and Shepards (Lexis)
• USCA and USCS supplements and advance sheets
• New amendments:  hearings, Congressional Record, Federal Register
• Statutes at Large includes Constitutional Amendments
• Find proposed Constitutional Amendments as congressional Joint Resolutions in Thomas and other bill tracking sources

Secondary Sources

• Encyclopedia of the American Constitution KF4548 .E53
• Treatises:
  • Treatise on Constitutional Law (Nowak & Rotunda):  Westlaw and KF4550 .R63, also Constitutional Law Hornbook (Reserves)
  • Modern Constitutional Law (Antieau/Rich):  KF4550 .R47 and Westlaw
  • Smolla and Nimmer on Freedom of Speech:  Westlaw and KF4772 .N54
  • LaFave Search and Seizure:  Westlaw and KF9630 .L26
  • Hall Search and Seizure:  Lexis and KF99630 .H36
  • Constitutional Rights of the Accused (Cook):  Westlaw
  • Constitutional Law treatises on Westlaw
  • Constitutional Law treatises on Lexis
• Casebooks:
  • American Constitutional Law (Tribe):  KF4550 .T785 (Reserves)
  • American Constitutional Law (Shanor):  KF4549 .S395
• Law Reviews
• Library of Congress Guide
  • Links to articles and resources on interpretation of the Constitution
• Newsletters:  US Law Week, Findlaw
• Websites and Blawgs:
  • First Amendment Center
  • American Constitution Society
  • SCOTUSblog
  • Constitutional Law Prof Blog
  • First Amendment Law Prof Blog

Drafting and Ratification

• Constitutional background and original intent
• Drafted 1787, ratified 1787-1790
• Federalist Papers
• Farrand's Records of the Convention
• Elliot's Debates (state conventions)
• Annals of Congress volume 1
• Continental Congress and Constitutional Convention broadsides
• Sources:
  • Example of use of historical constitutional materials:  DC v Heller 128 S.Ct. 2783, 171 L.Ed. 2d 637 (2008):  Citations to Federalist Papers and Antifederalist materials, debates from the Constitutional Convention, colonial and early state statutes and constitutions, historical treatises, English Reports and statutes
• American Memory Collection (Library of Congress)
• Library of Congress:  Primary Documents in American History
• Westlaw Legislative History 1776 database
• University of Oklahoma historical documents
• Yale Avalon Project
• The Constitutional Sources Project:  Constitutional source documents:  searchable, or find background documents by topic or constitutional article, amendment, or clause
• Hein Online Legal Classics (Electronic Resources)
• The Founder's Constitution KF4502 .F68 1987
  • Online version to search, use indexes of authors and Constitutional provisions, or use the Table of Contents.  Includes excerpts of founding documents, letters, and debates related to provisions and clauses of the Constitution
• EUCLID:  Subject Constitutional History

Unratified Amendments

• Six amendments
• FDSys:  Constitution:  Analysis and Interpretation, includes proposed amendments not ratified by the states
•  
• Lexis Constitutional amendments page:  with failed amendments, amendment factoids, timeline, and information on the amendment process

State Constitutions

• Georgia:
  • Official Code of Georgia Annotated (OCGA), Volume 2
  • West's Code of Georgia Annotated, Georgia Constitution volumes
  • Secretary of State website
• Usually included in state code sets
  
  • State Codes Ranges 354-356 (Hansell Room)
  • Cornell LII State Constitutions and Statutes
  • Law Library of Congress
  • Combined searches of state constitutions:
    • Westlaw:  ST-CONST
    • Lexis

Daily Show clip:  John Hodgman on the US Constitution