Mapping U.S. Supreme Court Data Across the Internet
With the National Archives, Library of Congress, and even (gasp) the U.S. Supreme Court itself making more of the Court’s current and historical information available online, having some roadmaps to – and mappings between – all that data is becoming increasingly important. Add private collections to the mix, such as The Oyez Project, Justia, and The Supreme Court Database, and the wealth of information becomes both a blessing and a curse.
In 2023, NARA finally made the fully digitized collection of U.S. Supreme Court audio recordings available – a long-overdue development, considering that most of the digitization work had been completed over the two previous decades, thanks to the efforts of Oyez and its many contributors, which NARA finally acknowledged publicly in March 2024.
No detailed mappings across all these rich data sets exist yet, but hopefully they will materialize over time. To help kick things off, I’ve started working on an audit.
This audit relies in part on the audio materials (and associated metadata) sitting in NARA’s SCOTUS Collection:
Other Series in NARA’s SCOTUS collection include:
[Raw Data]
- Administrative Orders, 1791-1950
- Allotment Orders, 1796-1946
- Appellate Jurisdiction Case Exhibits, 1851-1929
- Appellate Jurisdiction Case Files, 1792-2020
- Applications and Endorsements, 1867-1909
- Applications for Admission to Practice Before the Bar of the United States Supreme Court, 1925-2022
- Attorney Rolls, 1790-1961
- Bills and Accounts of Costs Against the United States, 1803-1886
- Bills for Costs against Private Parties, 1830-1900
- Case Files of Disbarments from the Bar of the United States Supreme Court, 2006-2017
- Certificates of Admission to Practice Before the Supreme Court, 1790-1873
- Certificates of Admissions to Practice Before State Courts, 1790-1873
- Certiorari Cards, 1935-2001
- Circuit Court Admiralty Case Files of Justice James M. Wayne, 1859-1861
- Copies of Selected Original Opinions, 1832-1835
- Copy of the Eighth Volume of Reports, 1849
- Correspondence Relating to the Administrative Office of the United States Courts, 1939-1942
- Correspondence Relating to the Appointment of Advisory Committees on Rules of Criminal and Civil Procedure, 1941-1946
- Correspondence of Supreme Court Clerk Francis R. Kirkham, 1931-1935
- Correspondence of the Chief Justice's Law Clerks, 1927-1938
- Correspondence of the Committee on Equity Practice, 1911-1912
- Correspondence on Accounts, 1856-1938
- Correspondence on Appointment of Stenographic Clerks, 1888-1940
- Correspondence with the United States General Accounting Office, 1949-1956
- Correspondence, 1890-1919
- Court Orders, 1858-1890
- Day Book, 1898-1926
- Disbursing Officer's Checks, 1888-1894
- Documents Relating to Memorial Proceedings, 1826-1911
- Documents Relating to the Retirements of Justices, 1872-1906
- Documents from Undocketed Appellate Case Files, 1791-1920
- Documents from Unidentified Cases, 1790-1930
- Electronic Dockets for Closed Appellate Cases, 1996-2006
- Electronic Dockets for Closed Original Jurisdiction Cases, 1996-2009
- Engrossed Dockets, 1791-1995
- Engrossed Minutes, February 1790-June 7, 1954
- Engrossed Opinions, 1835-1914
- Ex Parte and Miscellaneous Case Files, 1921-2020
- Fee Bonds, 1832-1889
- Fee Books, 1818-1934
- General Accounting Records, 1867-1936
- General Correspondence, 1791-1952
- General Correspondence, 1867-1940
- General Orders and Forms under Bankruptcy Acts of 1867 and 1874, 1867-1876
- Gifted Papers, 1809-1857
- Habeas Corpus Cases Heard at Chambers, 1861-1882
- Index of Cases, 1827
- Index to Case Files, 1792-1909
- Indexes to Names of Attorneys Admitted to the Bar of the Supreme Court, 1790-1970
- Journals, 1840-1935
- Letters Sent and Received by U.S. Supreme Court Justices, 1791-1940
- Letters Sent and Received, 1887-1910
- Library Accounting Records, 1896-1910
- Lists of Pending Cases, 1796-1951
- Lists of Unpaid Fee Bills, 1830-1868
- Loyalty Oaths of Members of the Supreme Court Bar, 1865-1867
- Mandates, 1830-1905
- Manuscript Opinions, 1832
- Maps of Indian Reservations, ca. 1956-ca. 1958
- Minutes, 1780-1789
- Motion Picture Films, 1959-1960
- Notes and Briefs of Justice Henry Baldwin, 1830-1844
- Numerical Applications for Action, 1912-2020
- Oaths of Office and Bonds of Court Officers, 1827-1907
- Oaths of Office of Justices, 1823-1910
- Opinions in Appellate Cases, 1808-1913
- Opinions in Original Jurisdiction Cases, 1835-1909
- Orders Concerning Rules of the Court, 1792-1950
- Original Jurisdiction Case Exhibits, 1851-2004
- Original Jurisdiction Case Files, 1792-1998
- Paid Vouchers for Printing and Binding, 1944-1954
- Papers Relating to Introductions and Resignations of Attorneys General, 1881-1893
- Papers on Petition of J. J. Hoffman, 1893-1895
- Photographs of Supreme Court Justices and the Supreme Court Building, 1946
- Printers' Invoices, 1831-1957
- Proclamation Presented by the Members of the Washington, DC Bar Association, 1930
- Receipts for Disbursements, 1827-1890
- Records of Deposits for Printing, 1888-1896
- Records of Opinions Sent to Printer, 1865-1879
- Requisitions for Printing and Binding, 1895-1949
- Revolutionary War Prize Cases, 1780-1787
- Rough Dockets, 1803-1923
- Rough Minutes, 1790-1985
- Scrapbooks on History, 1880-1935
- Selected Alienated and Unidentified Documents, 1815-1980
- Selected Government Publications Relating to the Supreme Court, 1887-1954
- Selected Papers, 1815-1933
- Selected Revolutionary War Prize Case Documents, 1780-1784
- Sound Recordings of Oral Arguments - Black Series, October 1955-December 1972
- Sound Recordings of Oral Arguments - Red Series, December 1972-June 27, 2005
- Sound Recordings of Oral Arguments - Gold Series, October 3, 2005-May 13, 2020
- Subject Files, 1800-1910
- Subject Files, 1864-1913
- Transcripts of Oral Arguments, 1968-2020
- Unidentified Exhibits, 1931