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Federal statutes are laws enacted by Congress with, generally, the approval of the President. They are published in three formats:
as individual slip laws, which are pamphlets that each contain a separate statute;
session laws, which are compilations of all of the slip laws enacted during a session of Congress; and
as codified law incorporated into a code.
The United States Code, or “U.S.C.”, organizes statutes, as amended, by subject matter. For example, all of the statutes relating to education are found in chapter 20 of the U.S.C. However, when referencing particular sections of a statute, the section number used in the slip law version is commonly used, rather than the code version. So, for example, IDEA Part B State Eligibility requirements are found in section 612 of the IDEA, which can be cited as 20 U.S.C. 1412.
Here are a few of the more commonly cited sections from the IDEA statute and the corresponding U.S.C. cite where you will find the requirement:
