Judicial Selection Methods
- Brennan Center: Interactive Map Source Data
The data used to create the Brennan Center’s interactive map includes judicial selection information, including statutory citations, by state, court level, selection phase, and term lengths.
- Institute for the Advancement of the American Legal System: Selection & Retention of State Judges: Methods from Across the Country
Judicial selection and retention data for every state, as of 2015.
- National Center for State Courts: Judicial Selection in the States
State-specific information on how judges are selected in different states at different court levels, term lengths, and more.
Judicial Campaigns
- Brennan Center: Buying Time – Campaign Ads
Our groundbreaking Buying Time analysis, first conducted in 2000, examines the sponsorship, content, and costs of televised state supreme court campaign ads. Data for these ads, including spending, spot counts, tones, and themes, can be found here, and our interactive ad database can be found here.
- Brennan Center: The New Politics of Judicial Elections
This series contains data on campaign contributions, television spending, and independent expenditures for each election. See the most recent report on the 2015–16 cycle here.
- National Institute on Money in State Politics: Follow the Money
Online archive of contributions to political campaigns in all 50 states, including for state supreme courts and intermediate appellate courts.
Judicial Diversity
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Brennan Center: State Supreme Court Diversity
Report on the racial ethnic, and gender diversity of state supreme courts. See the February 2020 update here.
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American Constitution Society: The Gavel Gap
Complete dataset of race/ethnicity and gender data for state court judges at all levels in all states and the District of Columbia. Data is current as of December 2014.
- National Association of Women Judges: The American Bench
Map of the 2014 representation of women state court judges in the U.S., according to The American Bench 2014, a biennial judicial directory.
- National Center for State Courts: Court Statistics Project
Includes partial data on racial/ethnic makeup of the judiciary.
- National Center for State Courts: Diversity of the Bench
Complete race/ethnicity and gender data for state supreme courts, intermediate appellate courts, and trial courts based off 2008 and 2009 data.
- American Bar Association: National Database on Judicial Diversity in State Courts
Provides a data on the diversity state court benches, nationally and at the state level.
- Alliance for Justice: Judicial Selection Snapshot
Includes data on the demographic diversity of the federal judicial nominees of the six most recent presidents.
- Federal Judicial Center: Diversity on the Bench
Provides demographic information for all current and former federal judges.
Judicial Recusal
- Center for American Progress: State Recusal Scorecards
Grades for all 39 states that elect judges based on "whether the states that elect judges have addressed the conflicts of interest that come with multimillion-dollar judicial elections."
Disclosure
- National Institute on Money in State Politics: Contributions Disclosure Scorecards
Grades for all 50 states based on what contributor information is disclosed, the timeliness and quality of campaign finance data, and public access to the data in 2016.
- National Institute on Money in State Politics: Independent Spending Disclosure Scorecards
Grades for all 50 states assessing the independent spending disclosure requirements that were in effect as of March 2016.
Access to Justice
- National Center for Access to Justice: Justice Index
Data showing the progress of each state 50 state justice system in adopting best practices for ensuring access to justice for all.
Court Statistics
- National Center for State Courts: Court Statistics Project
Caseload data from the courts of the fifty states, the District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico. Includes partial data on racial/ethnic makeup of the judiciary.
Public Polling
- National Center for State Courts: State of State Courts
NCSC conducted surveys in 2016 and 2017 of public trust and confidence in the courts, including questions of inefficiency, unfairness, and overall faith in the judicial system.
- Justice at Stake: Assorted Polling
Polling from the past 15 years on the impact of special interest money on the integrity of the courts, and other questions.