Can government works be protected by copyright?

The Copyright Act states that any work prepared by the federal government is not entitled to copyright protection. This prohibition applies to any works prepared by an officer or employee of the United States Government as part of his duties. While the Copyright Act is silent as to work created by state or local governments (such as state court opinions, state statutes, city and municipal ordinances, etc.), it is likely that such works would not be protected and would be deemed to be in the public domain.