Legislative documents are often used by attorneys and courts in an attempt to determine congressional intent or to clarify vague or ambiguous statutory language. All legislative documents are only persuasive legal authority; however, committee reports are usually considered to have the most persuasive value. This guide will first discuss the types of documents that come out of the legislative process and their use, and will then set out the methods of locating legislative documents for enacted legislation.
Spending the time to understand the mechanics of how laws are made is well worth the effort, and an important first step, because that understanding makes it possible to better evaluate the variety of documents you'll be looking at and what "intent" it is they capture. Pictured below is the cliff notes version.
