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Determining the current status of a statute on Westlaw can be done by
using KeyCite, West's citation research service. To begin your research, you
select the KeyCite tab and type in your USCA citation. A yellow or red KeyCite
status flag indicates that there is either pending legislation (yellow flag) or
the statute has been affected (red flag) by case law or legislative action
(i.e. amended, repealed or ruled unconstitutional).
You can also obtain the KeyCite "History" for the statute and the
"Citing References" which provides a list of primary and secondary materials
that cite the statute, including cases. Finally, if you want to monitor future
changes to the statute, you can click "Monitor With KeyCite Alert" which takes
you through steps to set up an automatic monitoring service of the statute.
Note: If you do not have the code citation, but have the popular name,
you can go to the USCA Popular Name Table (USCA-POP). When you click on the
popular name, it will show you where the sections of the Public Law have been
codified in the United States Code. Using the code citation, you can then use
the KeyCite service.
Another way to get to the code citation, if you have the Public Law
number or the Statutes at Large citation, is to use the United States Annotated
Code Tables (USCA-TABLES). After you type in the Public Law number or the
Statutes at Large citation and click the search tab, a results page will be
returned. Click the appropriate document and a table with the Public Law
number, the Statutes at Large citation and the USCA citation will be listed.
Once you obtain the code citation, you can use the KeyCite service.
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