US Codex

Search the full text of federal law: United States Code, Code of Federal Regulations, Public Laws, Congressional Bills, Executive Orders. Results are ranked across every corpus unless `corpus` narrows them, each with its citation, a link and the matching words. A query that is only a citation returns that document instead.

{
  "type": "object",
  "properties": {
    "corpus": {
      "description": "Search one corpus only.",
      "enum": [
        "usc",
        "cfr",
        "pl",
        "bills",
        "eo"
      ],
      "type": "string"
    },
    "date": {
      "description": "For a code, search it as it stood on this date (YYYY-MM-DD).",
      "type": "string"
    },
    "page": {
      "default": 1,
      "description": "Page of results, 20 to a page.",
      "type": "integer"
    },
    "query": {
      "description": "Words, a \"quoted phrase\", NOT before a word to exclude it, or a citation.",
      "type": "string"
    },
    "title": {
      "description": "For a code, search one title (\"11\", \"40\").",
      "type": "string"
    }
  },
  "required": [
    "query"
  ]
}

Read a document or page of the site as markdown: a code section with its notes, a title's or unit's contents, a public law, a bill (at any version), an executive order. Paths also reach the corpus indexes ("/usc", "/pl?congress=118", "/bills?congress=119", "/eo") and each code's releases ("/usc/releases"). Links in the markdown are paths this tool accepts.

{
  "type": "object",
  "properties": {
    "citation": {
      "description": "A citation (\"26 U.S.C. 61(a)\", \"40 CFR 60.1\", \"Pub. L. 119-21\", \"H.R. 1\", \"E.O. 14000\"). Give this or `path`.",
      "type": "string"
    },
    "notes": {
      "default": true,
      "description": "Include a section's source credit, notes and footnotes.",
      "type": "boolean"
    },
    "path": {
      "description": "A page of the site, as its path or full URL (\"/usc/26/61\", \"/pl/119/21\"). Give this or `citation`.",
      "type": "string"
    },
    "provision": {
      "description": "Part of the document: in a code section, a provision and everything under it (\"a-1\" for (a)(1)) or a run of them (\"a..c\"); in a law, bill or order, a heading's {#anchor} (\"tI-stA-s10101\") or a provision under it (\"tI-stA-s10101-a\").",
      "type": "string"
    },
    "release": {
      "description": "For a code, the release to read it at: a release point (\"119-21\") or a date (YYYY-MM-DD) for the release in force then. Defaults to the latest.",
      "type": "string"
    }
  }
}

What cites a document: each corpus's citations of a code section, law, bill or order, with the words that cite it, and for a statute the regulations issued under it. Lists come 50 at a time; `list` and `offset` page through one.

{
  "type": "object",
  "properties": {
    "citation": {
      "description": "A citation (\"26 U.S.C. 61(a)\", \"40 CFR 60.1\", \"Pub. L. 119-21\", \"H.R. 1\", \"E.O. 14000\"). Give this or `path`.",
      "type": "string"
    },
    "list": {
      "description": "One list only, by the corpus that cites.",
      "enum": [
        "code",
        "cfr-citations",
        "laws",
        "bills",
        "orders"
      ],
      "type": "string"
    },
    "offset": {
      "default": 0,
      "description": "With `list`, where in it to start.",
      "type": "integer"
    },
    "path": {
      "description": "A page of the site, as its path or full URL (\"/usc/26/61\", \"/pl/119/21\"). Give this or `citation`.",
      "type": "string"
    }
  }
}

How a document came to be: for a code section, the laws that enacted and amended it and every release that changed its text; for a law or bill, its legislative history, each version linked to its text and to what changed from the one before.

{
  "type": "object",
  "properties": {
    "citation": {
      "description": "A citation (\"26 U.S.C. 61(a)\", \"40 CFR 60.1\", \"Pub. L. 119-21\", \"H.R. 1\", \"E.O. 14000\"). Give this or `path`.",
      "type": "string"
    },
    "path": {
      "description": "A page of the site, as its path or full URL (\"/usc/26/61\", \"/pl/119/21\"). Give this or `citation`.",
      "type": "string"
    }
  }
}

What changed in a code section between two releases: each provision added, removed, changed or renumbered, the edits marked <del> and <ins>. To compare versions of a bill, take the 'what changed' link from its history.

{
  "type": "object",
  "properties": {
    "citation": {
      "description": "A citation (\"26 U.S.C. 61(a)\", \"40 CFR 60.1\", \"Pub. L. 119-21\", \"H.R. 1\", \"E.O. 14000\"). Give this or `path`.",
      "type": "string"
    },
    "from": {
      "description": "Release point or date to compare from. Defaults to the release before `to`.",
      "type": "string"
    },
    "only_edits": {
      "default": true,
      "description": "Only the provisions that changed, not the whole text.",
      "type": "boolean"
    },
    "path": {
      "description": "A page of the site, as its path or full URL (\"/usc/26/61\", \"/pl/119/21\"). Give this or `citation`.",
      "type": "string"
    },
    "to": {
      "description": "Release point or date to compare to. Defaults to the latest.",
      "type": "string"
    }
  }
}