Joseph Roberts
Finding a state's governmental structure
The state constitution can tell you how the government is structured. Like the U.S. constitution it will tell you things like the qualifications for office, the duties and powers of those offices, and term lengths. A state may have had multiple constitutions over time. You may be able to find a short history of the state as well as the state's constitution on the their website.
- State GovernementsFind the official websites for all 50 states. Select your state and press Go. The state name is also a link to the state website. When you find your state's website look for links or tabs that say "Government" or "Agencies." Many states link to the branches of their government and from there you can find, laws, executive orders, and cases.
Finding executive orders
A Google search should work for this. Type your state name and "executive orders" (e.g. Indiana and executive orders). For older executive orders you might do a search like Indiana executive orders archive. Current executive orders tend to be found on the governor's press release page with older ones archived somewhere else.
Finding bills, public laws, and statutes
You will be looking at state legislation that has been passed. Many states have websites for their legislature. They will include public laws under consideration, an archive of public laws which have been passed, as well as links to the state code or statutes (public laws that have been incorporated into the state statues). Navigating the state websites to find this information can be tricky! The following tips and resources will help.
- Locating Indiana Government DocumentsThis site from the Indiana State Library includes links to the state constitution, bills, public laws, legislative and administrative codes, executive orders, judicial opinions, as well as other documents.
- State GovernmentsFind the official websites for all 50 states. Select your state and press Go. The state name is also a link to the state website. When you find your state's website look for links or tabs that say "Government" or "Agencies." Many states link to the branches of their government and from there you can find, laws, executive orders, and cases.
- Nexis Uni This link opens in a new windowEasily search or browse any state code. To browse the code, enter your state's name in the large search box (the top one). An auto fill list with suggestions will show up below the search box. Click on the outline symbol to the right of your state's code, this will allow you to search and browse your state's code.
Finding cases
- Nexis Uni This link opens in a new windowSearch for appellate court cases with either a citation or by keyword. If you have a citation, enter it in the large search box near the top of the screen. If you are searching using party names (e.g. Smith vs. Jones), begin to type in the party names and select your case from the auto fill list below the box.
To do keyword searching on cases, use the Guided Search bellow the main search box. Select Cases then select State Cases enter your search terms, and click on the big blue search button. You can narrow to your state using the search facets in the left column of the results list by clicking on Court and then your state.
- Locating Indiana Government DocumentsThis site from the Indiana State Library has links to, among other things, court decisions and cases. Click on the link above and scroll down to Judicial Branch.
- State GovernmentsYou may find non appellate cases on the state's official website (search for appellate case in Nexis Uni). Use this link to find your state's website and then look for links or tabs that say "Government" or "Agencies." Find the Judicial branch or courts link. They may provide access to opinions. If the court is not an appellate court, the decision is not an appeal.
Findind State Finances
The best resource for this type of information would be the state's own website. Either use the State Governments link above to locate their site or do a Google search. You might try your state's name plus "budget" and maybe "pie chart." You will find a number of unofficial sites which you will want to avoid. Examples include usgovernmentrevenue.com, ballotpedia.org, or cleargov.com.