Law Homework Help

please provide me with two student responses of 100 words each.

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KG

Karen Granucci

Nov 8, 2020 at 1:29 PM

Dear Professor –

Under what circumstances would a researcher be motivated to research the legislative history of a law or statute? According to our etext, If a statute you are researching is unclear or can be interpreted in more than one way or adverse to the position you wish to advocate, and lacks cases allowing interpretation. In any of these cases, you may wish to examine the various documents that reflect the activity of the legislature that enacted the statute to help you determine the intent of the legislature. This process is referred to as preparing or compiling a legislative history (Bouchoux pg 380).

What process would you follow if you were to research the legislative history of a law or statute?

There are two options available in this process. The former way is the print sources to compile a legislative history or the more efficient quicker way would be electronically using Lexis Advance, Westlaw, ProQuest Congressional.Congress.gov (Congress’s database), or FDsys. Electronically esearchers can locate the documents needed by searching by bill number or keywords and then follow the links to related documents, enabling them to assemble a legislative history far more easily than looking through print. Sidenote: Although FDsys and GovInfo databases are relatively current, meaning that you cannot obtain older documents from these services. Even though you cannot perform legislative history research for older statutes as legislative history is usually performed for newer statutes. Once a statute has been in existence for a few years, there will likely be a judicial analysis of the statute and cases discussing it, rendering the use of a legislative history far less important. (Bouchoux, pg 385-387).

WC 290

References:

Bouchoux, D. E. (2016). Legal Research and Writing for Paralegals. [VitalSource Bookshelf]. Retrieved from https://online.vitalsource.com/#/books/97814548816…

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TD

Traci Dingle

Nov 10, 2020 at 5:05 PM

Hi Karen,

Thanks for being the first to kick off the week.

How do attorneys utilize legislative documents?

Professor Dingle

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KG

Karen Granucci

Nov 14, 2020 at 2:49 PM

Hello Professor – I hope you are having a great week, thank you for your follow-up question.

A legislative document is a version of the bills, from both houses, as well as House & Senate committee reports and documents, hearings, floor debate in the Congressional Record, even documents from Weekly and Daily Compilation of Presidential Documents, and the final text of the bill or act. The Legislative document is produced by Congress as a bill is introduced, studied, and debated. These legislative documents are often used by attorneys and courts in an attempt to determine Congressional intent or to clarify vague or ambiguous statutory language and are of persuasive authority, and not viewed as mandatory authority. There are many legislative tools that assist attorneys in gathering the information they need to support their case.

According to our e-text, there are some courts reluctant to rely on legislative documents and do not view it as a reasoned analysis of the statue. But, as an unsuitable product of a political process rather than a careful and reasoned analysis of the statute. If there is no other argument to utilize, the attorney uses the research to present it to the court as clearly and persuasively as possible. Then the court may be persuaded to rely upon legislative documents as evidence of the purpose or intent of a statute (Bouchoux, pg 394).

Reference:

Bouchoux, D. E. (2016). Legal Research and Writing for Paralegals. [VitalSource Bookshelf]. Retrieved from https://online.vitalsource.com/#/books/97814548816…

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Celina Huaman

Nov 12, 2020 at 3:59 PM

Good afternoon Karen,

I hope that all is well and that you are having a wonderful week so far. I would like to start by stating thank you for being the first one to respond to this week’s discussion question. Once one person writes I feel like it gets the ball rolling. You have written a well-written discussion post and I would like to let you know that. Something that stood out was when you stated The former way is the print sources to compile a legislative history or the more efficient quicker way would be electronically using Lexis Advance, Westlaw, ProQuest Congressional.Congress.gov (Congress’s database), or FDsys. Electronically researchers can locate the documents needed by searching by bill number or keywords and then follow the links to related documents, enabling them to assemble a legislative history far more easily than looking through print. This was very important because there is more than me a way to find the legislative history. Once again thank you for such a well-written post and I hope you have a wonderful rest of the week, stay safe. I am looking forward to reading your discussion post in the upcoming weeks.

Word count: 198

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Celina Huaman

Nov 12, 2020 at 3:46 PM

Good afternoon Professor and Classmates,

I hope that all is well and that everyone is having a wonderful week so far. Now onto this week’s discussion question

Under what circumstances would a researcher be motivated to research the legislative history of a law or statute?

If a statute you are researching is unclear, adverse to the position you wish to advocate, or lacks cases interpreting it, you may wish to examine the various documents that reflect the activity of the legislature that enacted the statute to help you determine the intent of the legislature. This process is referred to as preparing or compiling a legislative history. ( Bouchoux, 2016) I personally think that when doing research everything should be clear. If something is not clear then look over your resources again and see where you will be able to find what you are looking for.

What process would you follow if you were to research the legislative history of a law or statute?

The ability to conduct research electronically has had a significant effect on the way in which legislative history research is conducted. It is no longer necessary to run around a law library collecting documents. Using Lexis Advance, Westlaw, Congress.gov (Congress’s database), or FDsys, researchers can easily find the documents they need by searching by bill number or keywords and then quickly link to related documents, enabling them to assemble a legislative history far more easily than in the past. I would personally go through Westlaw website the reason for that is since I am more familiar with it. I would be able to navigate it better and find what I have to fine. West law is really straight forward when providing the information. Westlaw, Thomson Reuters/West’s computerized legal research system, operates nearly identically to Lexis Advance. Select “Legislative History” from your home or welcome screen. You will now be given the opportunity to access the Congressional Record, USCCAN, congressional testimony, and more. Even more important, you can select “Arnold & Porter Legislative Histories” to access “prepackaged” or compiled legislative histories for various well-known statutes, such as the Family and Medical Leave Act or the USA Patriot Act. These compiled legislative histories provide “one-stop shopping” with the ability to directly link to all the documents you need relating to these Acts. Moreover, when you view a statute on Westlaw, you may select “History” and then “Graphical Statute” to link to legislative history documents, including bill versions, committee reports, and debates. This feature allows nearly instantaneous access to legislative history documents. ( Bouchoux, 2016)

I hope that everyone has a wonderful rest of the week and stays safe with everything going on around. I am looking forward to reading your discussions to learn more about the topic.

References:

Bouchoux, D. E. (2016). Legal Research and Writing for Paralegals.

Word count: 470

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Janet Hidalgo

Nov 12, 2020 at 11:23 PM

Hi Celina, for economic and environmental reasons, conducting electronic research is always better for it will make updating more effective and efficient.

Electronic searching for legislative purposes can also be done in search databases like those located on Lexis, Westlaw, and Dow Jones. Such searches, as well as those searching all reports, bills, debates, and testimony, can take you far beyond the documents prescribed in a public law’s compiled legislative history. But sometimes it is these searches that turn up related legislation and explanations of actions not covered or not easily found in a normal legislative history. For researchers interested in finding any explanation of legislative intent for the smallest provision of law such searches may indeed prove fruitful. However, in a law’s interpretation, courts are not likely to give much weight to non-legislative documents or to legislative documents far removed from the original legislation. On the other hand, to a federal agency that must construe the intent of Congress when proposing implementing regulations stemming from a law or to a third party commenting on those proposed regulations, any support from a law’s legislative history may prove persuasive.

References

McKinney, Richard J. “Compiling a Federal Legislative History Electronically.” FEDERAL LEGISLATIVE HISTORY RESEARCH, Law Librarians’ Society of Washington, D.C., Inc, 2001, www.llsdc.org/.

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TD

Traci Dingle

Nov 13, 2020 at 8:26 AM

Hi Celina,

Thanks for a well-developed post. What are committee reports?

Professor Dingle

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KG

Karen Granucci

Nov 14, 2020 at 2:53 PM

Hello Professor –

According to a really informative website I found: Congress.gov

Committee reports are one set of documents among the variety of document types produced by House and Senate committees that address legislative and other policy issues, investigations, and internal committee matters. Committee reports usually are one of these types:

1. reports that accompany a legislative measure when it is reported for chamber action
2. reports resulting from oversight or investigative activities
3. reports of conference committees
4. committee activity reports, published at the conclusion of a Congress.

Committee reports are uniquely identified by a standardized citation that includes the Congress, chamber (House or Senate), and report number.

reference:

https://www.congress.gov/congressional-reports

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Janet Hidalgo

Nov 12, 2020 at 10:16 PM

Good evening,

A researcher may be encouraged or driven to do legislative history research under any circumstance. Knowing some basic information about the statute you are researching will expedite your statutory and legislative history research. Good places to look for background information are secondary sources like legal encyclopedias or treatises, or the website of any agency charged with administering the statute if there is one.

If a statute is unclear, lawyers and courts may use legislative documents to try to clarify ambiguous language or help determine what lawmakers were intending when they passed the law. In many situations, a case involving a statute will need interpretation. The statutory sources may vary considerably in their level of ambiguity. One reason for the ambiguity is that as time passes, the meaning of the words and the language may change. Also, new developments and trends can raise questions about the intention of a statute

To begin a search for legislative history on a particular law or statute, you should follow the legislative history research: Find the citation of the law or statute. Identify and gather information about the public law (s). Search for compiled legislative histories or individual documents about the public law (s). Identify and locate legislative history documents related to the public law (s). Review the selected documents. Also, learn if a compiled legislative history already exists for the law you are researching.

References

“Legislative History Research Guide: Getting Started & Key Resources.” Georgetown Law, 2020, guides.ll.georgetown.edu/legislative_ history.

WC: 248

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TD

Traci Dingle

Nov 13, 2020 at 8:27 AM

Hi Janet,

I hope all is well. What type of documents may result from the legislative process?

Professor Dingle

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Kim Brown

Nov 13, 2020 at 12:38 AM

Good evening Professor Dingle and Class,

Under what circumstances would a researcher be motivated to research the legislative history of a law or statute?

If you were employed by a firm that is involved in administrative or international law, it would be required to use research outside the usual authorities that are not published the same primary and secondary sources as typically used. Courts will also find a necessity to research the legislative of a law or statute if it cannot determine plain meaning. (Bouchoux, 2017)

What process would you follow if you were to research the legislative history of a law or statute?

You can use three different ways to gather information on legislative history, print, electronic, or prepackaged legislative history.

If you choose conventional print sources, you would need to first read a statute in U.S.C., U.S.C.S, or U.S.C.A, which would provide historical notes giving information about the enactment of the statute. This gives you the public law number, the date of its enactment, and citation in the United States Statutes at Large. West refers to its publication, United States Code Congressional and Administrative News, or USCCAN, which is a monthly pamphlet for public laws, legislative history for certain bills, committee reports, presidential signing statements, and other materials you would need. If you didn’t have a statute number you could lookup by a list of the subject matter under the USCCAN index which is broken down into environment, crimes, social security matters. This will give you the public law number and other legislative information pertaining to the statute, and then use it to locate legislative history in USCCAN. (Bouchoux, 2017)

If you were to decide using electronic sources for your research, there are several databases you can access to obtain legislative history by searching by bill number or keywords, which would give you links to relating documents.

Lexis Advance offers searches by statute or by the name of the legislations you are looking to research. You will then select CIS Legislative History and you will be able to retrieve a summary, bill versions, committee reports, transcripts of committee hearings, and more.

Westlaw operates basically the same way, but under Legislative history, and you can also access USCCAN, congressional testimony, and also “Arnold & Porter Legislative Histories”. This will link you to all the documents needed to research Acts with debates.

ProQuest Congressional provides broad and current coverage of legislative documents, pending legislation, is mostly available under Lexis Advance.

Congress.gov is a free based subscription service, unlike the other three mentioned above. This is provided by the Library of Congress and is a wealth of information, including historical documents, links to House and Senate directories, committee schedules, and links to additional legislative activities. You can search by keywords, bill numbers, or public law numbers. You will be able to open the exact text of the bill or public law, summary, and status. You can search between multiple Congresses in a single search if you do not know which congressional sessions the legislation was introduced.

FDsys is the Government Publishing Office, which has numerous official publications, under the full name of the Federal Digital System. You can gain information on calendars, bills, committee prints, transcripts of committee hearings, and reports. You can search by keywords or citation. These documents are verified “authentic” without the need of using a URL.

Regardless of which research avenue you choose, be mindful of how the courts view hearings, with testimony as they lead to skepticism as some of those who testify are well-paid lobbyists.

Hoping everyone enjoys their weekend.

Kim

Source:

Bouchoux, D. E. (2017). Legal Research and Writing for Paralegals. New York: Wolters Kluwer. pgs 379 – 386

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Denise Brooks

Nov 14, 2020 at 3:29 AM

Hello Professor: Traci Dingle & Classmates;

Week 10 Discussion

Learning Objective: Examine special research issues (e.g., legislative histories, presidential documents, administrative law, international law, local and municipal law, and court rules.).

Under what circumstances would a researcher be motivated to research the legislative history of a law or statute? What process would you follow if you were to research the legislative history of a law or statute?

As a secondary source to follow the findings of a committee report or the comments of the sponsor of the legislation in determining the purpose or effect of the statue. If you were in court with a case and did not have enough substantive evidence, for your argument to advance. You should perform the research needed for a legislative history, by presenting it to the court as clear and persuasively as possible. By knowing (what your speaking about) and hoping for the best. With no other guidance to interpret an ambiguous statute, the court may be persuaded to rely upon the legislative history as evidence of the purpose or intent of the statue.

Cited: e-textbookvitalsource.com chapter 10. page 394

First focus on the statute you are researching, if it is not clear from researching interprete the wording differently by using similar wording. Then,while you examine the various documents that reflect the activity; of the legislature that enacted the statute your researching to determine the intent of the legislature. This is called preparing or compiling a legislative history. The compile legislative history you present to the court as evidence of what the legislature is intended for the statue to be accomplished.

Cited: e-textbookvitalsource.com chapter 10. page 394

Word Count: 267

~Denise N. Brooks

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