Data/Statistics on the U.S. Supreme Court

  • identification variables (e.g., citations and docket numbers);
  • background variables (e.g., how the Court took jurisdiction, origin and source of the case, the reason the Court agreed to decide it);
  • chronological variables (e.g., the date of decision, term of Court, natural court);
  • substantive variables (e.g., legal provisions, issues, direction of decision);
  • outcome variables (e.g., disposition of the case, winning party, formal alteration of precedent, declaration of unconstitutionality); and
  • voting and opinion variables (e.g., how the individual justices voted, their opinions and interagreements).