U.S. Constitution

The U.S. Constitution establishes the government of the United States.

It was signed on September 17, 1787. After it was ratified, it went into effect on March 4, 1789.

U.S. Code

Federal statutes are organized by subject matter in the U.S. Code.

Often, federal laws are given or referred to by common names such as the "Civil Rights Act of 1968," the "USA PATRIOT Act," or the "Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act." The Cornell Legal Information Institute offers a listing of federal laws by their popular names.

Statutes

Before laws are added to the U.S. Code, there are a handful of steps that must be taken.

After a bill becomes law:

1. The bill is forwarded to the Archivist of the United States for filing and publication. The Archivist assigns a public or private law number, depending on the type of legislation.
2. The bill is officially printed as an individual pamphlet commonly known as a "slip law."
3. Once a congressional session ends, its legislation is compiled and published chronologically as a bound volume of the U.S. Statutes at Large.

The statutes are periodically reorganized by subject matter. This arrangement is called the U.S. Code.

To learn more, see How Our Laws Are Made from the Law Library of Congress.