Rachael K. Hinkle

Scope

• All panel opinions from the U.S. Courts of Appeal from 2002 to 2012
• Includes only circuit courts with geoprahic jurisdiction
• Includes both published an unpublished opinions, more than 250,000
• Both case-level and judge-level datasets


• More than 250 variables, including the following categores with selected examples:
• Case Characteristics: citation, publication status, outcome/direction
• Panel Charactersitics: Race and gender composition of the panel
• Circuit/Year Data: Caseload, circuit size, publication rules
• Ideological Configuration: Panel, circuit, and Supreme Court median JCS scores
• Opinion Attributes: Length, readability, citation usage (binding vs. non-binding)
• Judicial Characteristics: Extensive data from FJC Biographical Database
• Variables from the FJC Integrated Database

Files

• C³PO Database Codebook
• FJC Integrated Database Codebook
• Case-level Dataset, Stata file
• Case-level Dataset, .csv file
• Judge-level Dataset, Stata file
• Judge-level Dataset, .csv file
• Download All Files

In Progress: C³PO Database Update - 2013 to 2024

Informational Sessions

"An Overview of Text Analysis Tools", October 26, 2017, University of Illinios.
Slides, example files, and code are available here.

Materials from SPSA CWC 2018

Morgan L.W. Hazelton, "Law and Courts Data Sources"

Rachael K. Hinkle, Info Session: Automated Processing of Citation Data, Slides and Files.

Michael J. Nelson, "Using Survey Technology for Data Collection"

Lee Demetrius Walker, Info Session: Methodology and Judicial Legitimacy: Legitimacy as an Input and Output of the Separation of Powers, Slides.