Sometimes one just wants to query some data, right? I recently found myself again wanting to query the excellent work of the Supreme Court Database (SCDB for short), which is an important resource for legal historians and political scientists of all stripes. Several years ago, I pulled together a quick SQLite database and have used it since then. It’s now time to generate a fresh database with updated SCDB data, so I figured I would document how I do it, in case it might be useful to others.

I’ve created a system to help index digitized court records from the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals. These documents, which include legal briefs and trial transcripts, can be a fascinating source for western history. They were saved by the University of California’s Hastings College of the Law, then digitized by the Internet Archive, and span the period from 1891 to the late 1960s. Head over to 9CHRIS, the 9th Circuit Historical Records Index System and have a look!