The U.S. Supreme Court Justices Database

In an initiative of considerable significance, the U.S. Supreme Court Justices database is now available for public use, see here. The database was compiled by Lee Epstein, Thomas Walker, Nancy Staudt, Scott Hendrickson, and Jason Roberts (a wonderful colleague of mine in both the political science department and law school here at Minnesota) through a grant from the National Science Foundation.

According to the description of the database, information about the Justices “fall[s] roughly into five categories: identifiers, background characteristics and personal attributes, nomination and confirmation, service on the Court, and departures from the bench.” Although scholars have been using the widely-known Spaeth database–which contains the votes of the Justices on merits cases–for a number of years, the new Supreme Court Justices database is the first to catalog personal and professional information for every individual who has ever served on the Supreme Court. Like the Spaeth database, the Supreme Court Justices database looks as if it will be difficult to navigate for novice researchers, but the authors have provided a 140-page codebook to guide users on their coding methodology. For scholars researching the Court, this new database looks as if it will be a valuable resource for years to come.

Hat Tip: Empirical Legal Studies blog and Kirk Randazzo