Up Fall 2003 Skills Assessment Fall 2003 Research Methods Survey Fall 2003 Research Methods Review Exercise Foreign Country Exercise Federal Legislative Materials Alternative Medicine Research Exercise INTERNATIONAL LAW EXERCISE International Law Handout Constitutional Law Exercise Rules of the Class State Administrative Law Exercise Federal Administrative Law Research Exercise Federal Statutory Law Exercise Polygraph Bibliography Exercise Assignments

 

        FEDERAL LEGISLATIVE RESEARCH EXERCISE #2

Your assignment is to find as much as you can in 45 minutes about the formal status of research into alternative medicine at the federal level. You are particularly interested in legislation that promotes or limits such research, criticism or debate in Congress about this type of research, and past, current, or future initiatives that Congress might have discussed, be discussing or might be willing to discuss or fund.

What kinds of questions might you ask? What information would be helpful to you?

 On either LEXIS, WESTLAW, or the WEB, find

 1.                 the enabling legislation for an agency that promotes the study of alternative medicine. Where is it codified?

 2.          the legislative history for the legislation you found in #1. Try to locate the texts of the documents for this legislative history online and in the law library.

3.                 What is the formal name of this agency?

 

4.                 Who oversees this agency? Who can abolish or eliminate it?

 

5.                 What is the formal definition of a “national research institute”? Has it ever been judicially interpreted?

 

6.  What seems to be the history of this agency? (i.e. does it have any precursors?) If so, what are they and what has happened to them?

 

7.  Can you find any discussion of the necessity or purposes for this agency by members of Congress?

 

8.  What additional federal institutes, centers, agencies or groups can you find that seem to work in conjunction with the agency you identified in #1?

 

9.  What clinical studies or other research can you identify as underway at these agencies, groups or centers?