The Supreme Court Database · 1946–2023
Explore the U.S. Supreme Court through data, cases, and voting patterns.
Search and filter Supreme Court decisions by term, issue area, chief-justice era, vote split, and outcome — now alongside a daily-refreshed pool of legal news, recent opinions, and judiciary activity.
The Court right now
A daily-refreshed pool of legal news, recent opinions, and judiciary activity — an independent aggregation of public data, baked into the page at build time.
Latest legal & Supreme Court news
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August’s total solar eclipse will sweep over Spain, Iceland and Greenland
The rare celestial event will cast the Moon's shadow across parts of Europe and the Arctic, beginning a run of three consecutive summers featuring total solar eclipses.
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Russia hits Ukrainian capital with ballistic missiles and drones, killing at least 9
The overnight assault left civilians dead and injured as explosions rocked neighborhoods across Kyiv.
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Britain’s new leader shifts power from Downing Street to Manchester with ‘No. 10 North’
Britain's government is expanding its presence in Manchester in a bid to spread political influence beyond the capital.
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Spain to put containment fence on Ceuta’s border with Morocco after frontier rush that killed 67
Spain plans new sea border infrastructure after a mass migrant crossing into Ceuta prompted heightened security measures.
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College football eligibility
AUSTIN, Texas — A Texas State University football player is suing the NCAA over its “JUCO” and five-year rules, which he claims arbitrarily bar him from playing in the 2026-2027 season.
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Appeals court gives Leah Remini’s defamation suit against Church of Scientology another trim
The ruling was a small victory for the church, although the case can now proceed to trial.
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States rip feds over new Affordable Care Act coverage provisions
The states say the new rule will decrease enrollment and drastically increase out-of-pockets costs.
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Labour wins decisive victory in Greater Manchester as Bev Craig defeats Reform UK
Labour held onto one of England's most powerful elected offices, while Reform UK suffered a setback amid mounting investigations into the party's finances and leader Nigel Farage.
Recent Supreme Court opinions
The judiciary in Congress
| Bill | Title | Latest action |
|---|---|---|
| HR 9010 | Making appropriations for the Legislative Branch for the fiscal year ending September 30, 2027, and for other purposes. | Placed on the Union Calendar, Calendar No. 580.May 22, 2026 |
| S 347 | Brownfields Reauthorization Act of 2025 | Placed on Senate Legislative Calendar under General Orders. Calendar No. 6.Feb 5, 2025 |
| S 4355 | Drug Deal Disclosure Act | Read twice and referred to the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions.Apr 21, 2026 |
| HR 6432 | Brownfields Reauthorization Act of 2025 | Referred to the Subcommittee on Water Resources and Environment.Feb 2, 2026 |
| HR 8739 | Brownfields Revitalization for a Better Tomorrow Act | Forwarded by Subcommittee to Full Committee by Voice Vote.May 14, 2026 |
| HR 9335 | Advanced Transmission Technology to Reduce Rates Act | Ordered to be Reported by the Yeas and Nays: 39 - 10.Jul 21, 2026 |
| HR 7970 | STOP Nitazenes Act | Ordered to be Reported in the Nature of a Substitute by the Yeas and Nays: 28 - 21.Jul 21, 2026 |
| HR 6529 | Protecting Families from AI Data Center Energy Costs Act | Ordered to be Reported by the Yeas and Nays: 44 - 0.Jul 21, 2026 |
Judicial nominations
| Nomination | Description |
|---|---|
| 874 | Committee on Foreign Relations. Hearings held.Received Mar 12, 2026 |
| 415 | Confirmed by the Senate by Voice Vote.Received Jul 15, 2025 |
| 896 | Confirmed by the Senate by Voice Vote.Received Mar 25, 2026 |
| 897 | Confirmed by the Senate by Voice Vote.Received Mar 25, 2026 |
| 937 | Placed on Senate Executive Calendar. Calendar No. 911. Subject to nominee's commitment to respond to requests to appear and testify before any duly constituted committee of the Senate.Received Apr 27, 2026 |
| 932 | Placed on Senate Executive Calendar. Calendar No. 910. Subject to nominee's commitment to respond to requests to appear and testify before any duly constituted committee of the Senate.Received Apr 21, 2026 |
Economic context
Broad national indicators that form the economic backdrop to many economic-activity and labor cases. Provided for context only.
Case explorer
Search 9,277 decisions by name, citation, or docket — then filter by term, issue, vote split, or outcome.
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| Case | Vote | Issue area | Winner |
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Trends & patterns
How the Court's caseload, vote splits, and issue focus have shifted since 1946.
Cases decided per term
5-4 decisions over time
Majority-size distribution
Issue areas by decade
Petitioner vs. respondent win rate
Decision direction by term
Justices
Voting patterns, tenure, and participation for justices serving since 1946.
Justice voting-profile comparison (top 20 by case count)
Understanding the data
Key concepts for interpreting Supreme Court decisions and vote data.
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What is a 5-4 decision?
A 5-4 decision is the narrowest possible majority on a nine-member Court: five justices one way, four in dissent. These cases are often the most contentious and consequential. Since 1946, roughly 20% of decided cases have been 5-4 splits.
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What is the Supreme Court Database?
The Supreme Court Database (SCDB), maintained at Washington University in St. Louis, is the most widely used academic dataset of Court decisions. It encodes every orally argued case since 1946 with over 200 variables. This site uses SCDB as its primary structured data source.
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Issue areas & vote splits
SCDB classifies cases into 14 issue areas such as Criminal Procedure, Civil Rights, First Amendment, and Economic Activity. Vote splits (9-0, 7-2, 5-4) describe how many justices joined the majority versus the dissent.
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Decision direction
SCDB codes each decision as "conservative," "liberal," or "unspecifiable" per conventional legal-political categories. These labels reflect scholarly coding conventions — not the justices’ self-identification — and are most useful for longitudinal trend analysis.
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How current terms compare
The Roberts Court (2005–present) decides fewer cases per term than earlier eras — roughly 60–70, versus 130+ under the Burger Court — but a larger share involve closely divided votes.
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Petitioner vs. respondent
The petitioner asks the Court to review a lower-court decision; the respondent defends it. Historically, petitioners win more often — the Court tends to grant review when it suspects error below.
Methodology & sources
Primary data source
The Supreme Court Database (SCDB), version 2024 Release 01, is the core structured dataset — maintained by Harold J. Spaeth, Lee Epstein, and collaborators at Washington University in St. Louis. It covers all orally argued cases from the 1946 through 2023 terms. scdb.wustl.edu
Live sources
The “Court right now” section aggregates public data refreshed daily: legal-news RSS feeds (SCOTUSblog, Justia Verdict, Empirical SCOTUS, Courthouse News), recent Supreme Court opinions via CourtListener / the Free Law Project, judiciary bills and nominations via Congress.gov, and broad economic indicators via FRED. Every block links back to its source. See the data overview and DATA_SOURCES.md for why each source is relevant and how failures degrade gracefully.
Supplementary sources
- SupremeCourt.gov — docket lookup and official opinion PDFs.
- Free Law Project / CourtListener — bulk case data and opinion text.
- Justia — public opinion text and case summaries.
- Caselaw Access Project — Harvard Law Library's digitization of U.S. case law.
Field definitions
- Term
- The October Term year in which the case was decided.
- Issue area
- One of 14 SCDB categories such as Criminal Procedure or Civil Rights.
- Vote split
- The majority-minority vote count (e.g., 5-4), from majVotes and minVotes.
- Decision direction
- Coded conservative, liberal, or unspecifiable per SCDB conventions.
- Winning party
- Whether the petitioner or respondent prevailed, from partyWinning.
Limitations
- SCDB covers orally argued cases from 1946 onward; per curiam and pre-1946 cases are excluded.
- Issue-area and direction codes involve editorial judgment; reasonable scholars may disagree.
- Live feeds reflect their upstream sources at fetch time and may lag or omit items.