Research Data & API
Everything this site computes, in research-ready form: versioned CSV/JSON downloads with a field codebook, and a free public API. If you use these data in published work, please cite as described below — and cite the underlying sources (Spaeth SCDB, Martin–Quinn) whose terms carry through.
Amicus briefs & the Solicitor General: who files, which side, who wins → · amicus/index.json
Forecast record (stable API):
forecasts/scorecard.json (scores, baselines, calibration, ablation, per-case results) ·
forecasts/ledger.json (each forecast's commit history; the last version saved before the decision is archived at
/data/forecasts/<slug>/<version>.json and never changes). See the scorecard.
Replication Lab: classic forecasting studies rebuilt and tested on OT2022–OT2025 →
How the Justices' views have evolved: twelve issues, every vote over time, tested shifts →
Compare their words: one question, all nine Justices' answers side by side →
How the bench asks: what each Justice's argument questions probe, since OT2010 →
Opinion-assignment tracker → · Emergency docket →
Downloads
Flat files regenerated with each data release. Loading…
| Dataset | Description | Rows | Size | Format |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Loading… | ||||
The site's live JSON assets are also stable fetch targets: scdb/index.json (min-keyed case index), scdb/citations.json, scdb/justices-analytics.json, justices/index.json and per-justice profiles.
Codebook — scdb-cases.csv
One row per decision, 1946–2025. Coded variables follow the Supreme Court Database codebook; label columns decode them.
| Field | Meaning |
|---|---|
case_id | SCDB caseId (TERM-NNN); OT2025 rows use the same pattern. Join key for all other files. |
case_name, term, date_decision | Case caption; October Term (year argued); decision date (ISO). |
us_cite, sct_cite | U.S. Reports and Supreme Court Reporter citations (empty for unpublished/recent). |
issue_area / issue_area_label | SCDB issueArea 1–14 (Criminal Procedure … Private Action). |
issue_code | Granular 5-digit SCDB issue code. |
decision_direction(_label) | 1 conservative, 2 liberal, 3 unspecifiable (SCDB §37 conventions). |
disposition(_label) | SCDB caseDisposition — how the Court treated the decision below. |
party_winning(_label) | Whether the petitioning party prevailed (SCDB §48). |
maj_votes, min_votes | Vote split of the decision. |
maj_author_id / maj_author | SCDB justice id and surname of the majority-opinion author. |
precedent_altered | 1 if the decision formally altered precedent (SCDB precedentAlteration). |
declared_unconstitutional | 1 if a law was struck down (SCDB declarationUncon > 1). |
authority_percentile | Citation-network PageRank percentile within this corpus (CAP/CourtListener graph); empty where unmatched. |
has_opinion_text | 1 if full opinion text is served on this site. |
coded_by | SCDB (official) or SCOTUS Analytics (our OT2025 supplement — treat as provisional until the official release). |
justice-appearances.csv — curated extrajudicial record. summary is a neutral paraphrase;
signal is this site's editorial interpretation (clearly opinion, not fact); topics/issue_areas are semicolon-separated;
every row carries a verified url.
citation-edges.csv — directed edges (citing → cited), resolvable only within the 1946–2025 corpus; resolution rate ≈49% of raw cite strings, so treat in-degree as a floor.
Public API
Free, no key, CORS-open to this site's tools; please keep request rates civil. Base: https://helpmefindcase.com/api
| Endpoint | Parameters | Returns |
|---|---|---|
GET /scotus/search | q, citation, issue, issue_area, direction, author, term, term_from, term_to, has_text, page, items_per_page | Faceted case search over the merged SCDB metadata. |
GET /scotus/merits | scdb_id or citation | Opinion rows (lead/concur/dissent) incl. full text where held. |
GET /scotus/testimony/search | q, justice, doc_type, limit | Hybrid semantic+keyword search over the justices' public-domain record (confirmation hearings, year-end reports, talk transcripts). |
Example:
curl "https://helpmefindcase.com/api/scotus/testimony/search?q=stare+decisis&justice=amy-coney-barrett&limit=5"
Versioning, citation & license
Current release: —
Suggested citation:
SCOTUS Analytics Research Data (2026 release, version —). scotus-analytics.com/research/. Underlying sources: Spaeth et al., Supreme Court Database, 2025 Release 01; Martin & Quinn (2002), Political Analysis 10:134–153 (2024 release); Caselaw Access Project / CourtListener.
Our derived and compiled data are released CC BY 4.0. The OT2025 supplement is our own provisional coding — validate against the official SCDB once its release covers the 2025 term. A DOI-minted archival deposit (Zenodo) is planned; until then, cite the version date shown above.
Changelog
- 2026-07-31 — first public release: case-level CSV, citation edges, agreement pairs, Martin–Quinn + Court median, extrajudicial record, OT2025 supplement.