Immigration Law Clinic Research Guide: Code of Federal Regulations

The Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) is the official publication for the current regulations of federal agencies. After a new or amended final regulation is published in the Federal Register, it is codified by topic in the CFR. (Example: Title 8 of the CFR is about aliens and nationality, so all regulations about immigration, naturalization, etc. are codified by topic in that title.)

Remember that no federal statutory research is COMPLETE without finding any applicable federal regulations.

Organization of CFR

The CFR is organized much like the United States Code (USC). The regulations are codified by topic in 50 titles that are divided into chapters, subchapters, parts, and sections. The CFR titles do not necessarily correspond to the USC titles of the same topic.

Citation Format

Citation example - 8 C.F.R. § 312.1

8 = title number

312 = part number

312.1 = section number

Like many primary sources of law, the CFR is available from both the government and commercial vendors.

e-CFR

Since the other GPO versions of the CFR are so out of date (see below), the GPO finally did the public a favor and created the e-CFR. It is a vast improvement since it is updated daily with the new and amended regulations published in the Federal Register. The search features are okay, though not as good as those available from commercial vendors (Westlaw and Lexis).

Westlaw and Lexis

The Westlaw and Lexis versions of the CFR are by far the easiest to use for the following reasons:

1. They have indexes
2. They have sophisticated search features
3. They are almost but not quite as up to date as the e-CFR (since both systems get their updates from the e-CFR)
4. They have KeyCite (Westlaw) and Shepard's (Lexis) which make it easy to update CFR sections and check their validity
5. They have useful research annotations that help with research (cases that interpret the regulations, secondary sources that explain them, and historical information)

Yayayayayay there is NOT MUCH new to learn about searching for federal regulations because statutes and regulations are so similar. 

1. Federal regulations and statutes look alike (and are sometimes mistaken for each other)
2. The Code of Federal Regulations is organized just like the United Statutes Code into titles, chapters, etc.
3. On Westlaw or Lexis, the federal regulations have the same editorial enhancements as statutes – case notes of decision, historical annotations, KeyCite/Shepard’s symbols, etc.
4. Federal regulations and statutes are searchable in the exact same way (see below) 

You can search for regulations on Westlaw just like you would search for statutes.

1. Subject index
2. Table of contents
3. Keyword searching (natural language or terms and connectors)

If you are starting with a USC section, there are TWO ways you can use Westlaw's KeyCite feature to find regulations enacted pursuant to the authority of a U.S.C. section.

1. Context and Analysis

When you have a U.S.C. section (example 8 U.S.C. 1423) on the screen, you can click on Context and Analysis and then look under Code of Federal Regulations to see a list of related regulations. This approach will not necessarily retrieve all regulations, but retrieves many of them.

2. Citing References

Or, you can click on Citing References and then limit the filter to Regulations.

You are interested in regulations about asylum seekings and their spouses/children!

What are the different ways to find relevant regulations?

Why is finding a relevant regulations one stop research shopping if you are using an annotated code?

During your one stop research shopping, how would you find cases/decisions/guidance about criminal spouses?