The Supreme Court Database

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Origin of Case

Variable Name
caseOrigin

Spaeth Name
ORIGIN

Normalizations
211 [ view ]

The focus of this variable is the court in which the case originated, not the administrative agency (see adminAction and adminActionState). For this reason a number of cases show a state or federal appellate court as the one in which the case originated rather than a court of first instance (trial court). This variable has no entry for cases that originated in the United States Supreme Court. Note too that caseOrigin does not identify the name of the state if the case originated in a state court. For the state name, see variable caseOriginState.

The courts in the District of Columbia present a special case in part because of their complex history. (The Federal Judicial Center's website provides a succinct description, at: http://www.fjc.gov/history/home.nsf/page/courts_special_dc.html). Below there is a separate code for the Supreme Court of the District of Columbia, which at times had the powers of a circuit court and at others was a trial court. The current federal courts, the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia (previously known as the Supreme Court of the District of Columbia) and the District Court for the District of Columbia) and the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit (a successor to the Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia) also, of course, have their own separate codes. Local trial (including today's superior court) and appellate courts (including today's District of Columbia Court of Appeals, the highest court in the District of Columbia) are treated as state courts here and as District of Columbia under the caseOriginState variable.

Other general coding notes:

Cases that arise on a petition of habeas corpus and those removed to the federal courts from a state court are defined as originating in the federal, rather than a state, court system.

This variable has no entry if the case arose under the Supreme Court's original jurisdiction and in other proceedings with which no other court was involved.

A petition for a writ of habeas corpus begins in the federal district court, not the state trial court.

Cases removed to a federal court originate there.

Coding notes with special relevance to the legacy database:

The originating (caseOrigin) and source (caseSource) court is often the same because many cases went from trial directly to the Supreme Court. For these cases, lcDisposition (how the source court treated the originating court’s decision) will be empty. An exception is the Supreme Court of the District of Columbia, which had a trial and general session. See, e.g., Thaw v. Ritchie, 136 U.S. 519 (1890), in which the court in general term reversed the trial court.

We identify courts based on the naming conventions of the day. In the legacy data, users will see that many source and origin courts are “United States Circuit Court for the ___ District of ___. Because of the plethora of districts (and changes in districts), we do not, however, differentiate among districts in a state. E.g., New York U.S. Circuit for (all) District(s) of New York includes all the districts in New York. For concise histories of the circuit and district courts, see the Federal Judicial Center’s website at: http://www.fjc.gov/history/home.nsf/page/index.html.

Also see source of case (caseSource).

Values:

1	U.S. Court of Customs and Patent Appeals
2	U.S. Court of International Trade
3	U.S. Court of Claims, Court of Federal Claims
4	U.S. Court of Military Appeals, renamed as Court of Appeals for the Armed Forces
5	U.S. Court of Military Review
6	U.S. Court of Veterans Appeals
7	U.S. Customs Court
8	U.S. Court of Appeals, Federal Circuit
9	U.S. Tax Court
10	Temporary Emergency U.S. Court of Appeals
12	U.S. Court for China
13	U.S. Consular Courts
14	U.S. Commerce Court
15	Territorial Supreme Court
16	Territorial Appellate Court
17	Territorial Trial Court
18	Emergency Court of Appeals
19	Supreme Court of the District of Columbia
20	Bankruptcy Court
21	U.S. Court of Appeals, First Circuit
22	U.S. Court of Appeals, Second Circuit
23	U.S. Court of Appeals, Third Circuit
24	U.S. Court of Appeals, Fourth Circuit
25	U.S. Court of Appeals, Fifth Circuit
26	U.S. Court of Appeals, Sixth Circuit
27	U.S. Court of Appeals, Seventh Circuit
28	U.S. Court of Appeals, Eighth Circuit
29	U.S. Court of Appeals, Ninth Circuit
30	U.S. Court of Appeals, Tenth Circuit
31	U.S. Court of Appeals, Eleventh Circuit
32	U.S. Court of Appeals, District of Columbia Circuit (includes the Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia but not the District of Columbia Court of Appeals, which has local jurisdiction)
41	Alabama Middle U.S. District Court
42	Alabama Northern U.S. District Court
43	Alabama Southern U.S. District Court
44	Alaska U.S. District Court
45	Arizona U.S. District Court
46	Arkansas Eastern U.S. District Court
47	Arkansas Western U.S. District Court
48	California Central U.S. District Court
49	California Eastern U.S. District Court
50	California Northern U.S. District Court
51	California Southern U.S. District Court
52	Colorado U.S. District Court
53	Connecticut U.S. District Court
54	Delaware U.S. District Court
55	District Of Columbia U.S. District Court
56	Florida Middle U.S. District Court
57	Florida Northern U.S. District Court
58	Florida Southern U.S. District Court
59	Georgia Middle U.S. District Court
60	Georgia Northern U.S. District Court
61	Georgia Southern U.S. District Court
62	Guam U.S. District Court
63	Hawaii U.S. District Court
64	Idaho U.S. District Court
65	Illinois Central U.S. District Court
66	Illinois Northern U.S. District Court
67	Illinois Southern U.S. District Court
68	Indiana Northern U.S. District Court
69	Indiana Southern U.S. District Court
70	Iowa Northern U.S. District Court
71	Iowa Southern U.S. District Court
72	Kansas U.S. District Court
73	Kentucky Eastern U.S. District Court
74	Kentucky Western U.S. District Court
75	Louisiana Eastern U.S. District Court
76	Louisiana Middle U.S. District Court
77	Louisiana Western U.S. District Court
78	Maine U.S. District Court
79	Maryland U.S. District Court
80	Massachusetts U.S. District Court
81	Michigan Eastern U.S. District Court
82	Michigan Western U.S. District Court
83	Minnesota U.S. District Court
84	Mississippi Northern U.S. District Court
85	Mississippi Southern U.S. District Court
86	Missouri Eastern U.S. District Court
87	Missouri Western U.S. District Court
88	Montana U.S. District Court
89	Nebraska U.S. District Court
90	Nevada U.S. District Court
91	New Hampshire U.S. District Court
92	New Jersey U.S. District Court
93	New Mexico U.S. District Court
94	New York Eastern U.S. District Court
95	New York Northern U.S. District Court
96	New York Southern U.S. District Court
97	New York Western U.S. District Court
98	North Carolina Eastern U.S. District Court
99	North Carolina Middle U.S. District Court
100	North Carolina Western U.S. District Court
101	North Dakota U.S. District Court
102	Northern Mariana Islands U.S. District Court
103	Ohio Northern U.S. District Court
104	Ohio Southern U.S. District Court
105	Oklahoma Eastern U.S. District Court
106	Oklahoma Northern U.S. District Court
107	Oklahoma Western U.S. District Court
108	Oregon U.S. District Court
109	Pennsylvania Eastern U.S. District Court
110	Pennsylvania Middle U.S. District Court
111	Pennsylvania Western U.S. District Court
112	Puerto Rico U.S. District Court
113	Rhode Island U.S. District Court
114	South Carolina U.S. District Court
115	South Dakota U.S. District Court
116	Tennessee Eastern U.S. District Court
117	Tennessee Middle U.S. District Court
118	Tennessee Western U.S. District Court
119	Texas Eastern U.S. District Court
120	Texas Northern U.S. District Court
121	Texas Southern U.S. District Court
122	Texas Western U.S. District Court
123	Utah U.S. District Court
124	Vermont U.S. District Court
125	Virgin Islands U.S. District Court
126	Virginia Eastern U.S. District Court
127	Virginia Western U.S. District Court
128	Washington Eastern U.S. District Court
129	Washington Western U.S. District Court
130	West Virginia Northern U.S. District Court
131	West Virginia Southern U.S. District Court
132	Wisconsin Eastern U.S. District Court
133	Wisconsin Western U.S. District Court
134	Wyoming U.S. District Court
150	Louisiana U.S. District Court
151	Washington U.S. District Court
152	West Virginia U.S. District Court
153	Illinois Eastern U.S. District Court
155	South Carolina Eastern U.S. District Court
160	South Carolina Western U.S. District Court
162	Alabama U.S. District Court
163	U.S. District Court for the Canal Zone
164	Georgia U.S. District Court
165	Illinois U.S. District Court
166	Indiana U.S. District Court
167	Iowa U.S. District Court
168	Michigan U.S. District Court
169	Mississippi U.S. District Court
170	Missouri U.S. District Court
171	New Jersey Eastern U.S. District Court (East Jersey U.S. District Court)
172	New Jersey Western U.S. District Court (West Jersey U.S. District Court)
173	New York U.S. District Court
174	North Carolina U.S. District Court
175	Ohio U.S. District Court
176	Pennsylvania U.S. District Court
177	Tennessee U.S. District Court
178	Texas U.S. District Court
179	Virginia U.S. District Court
180	Norfolk U.S. District Court
181	Wisconsin U.S. District Court
182	Kentucky U.S. Distrcrict Court
183	New Jersey U.S. District Court
184	California U.S. District Court
185	Florida U.S. District Court
186	Arkansas U.S. District Court
187	District of Orleans U.S. District Court
300	State Supreme Court
301	State Appellate Court
302	State Trial Court
400	Eastern Circuit (of the United States)
401	Middle Circuit (of the United States)
402	Southern Circuit (of the United States)
403	Alabama U.S. Circuit Court for (all) District(s) of Alabama
404	Arkansas U.S. Circuit Court for (all) District(s) of Arkansas
405	California U.S. Circuit for (all) District(s) of California
406	Connecticut U.S. Circuit for the District of Connecticut
407	Delaware U.S. Circuit for the District of Delaware
408	Florida U.S. Circuit for (all) District(s) of Florida
409	Georgia U.S. Circuit for (all) District(s) of Georgia
410	Illinois U.S. Circuit for (all) District(s) of Illinois
411	Indiana U.S. Circuit for (all) District(s) of Indiana
412	Iowa U.S. Circuit for (all) District(s) of Iowa
413	Kansas U.S. Circuit for the District of Kansas
414	Kentucky U.S. Circuit for (all) District(s) of Kentucky
415	Louisiana U.S. Circuit for (all) District(s) of Louisiana
416	Maine U.S. Circuit for the District of Maine
417	Maryland U.S. Circuit for the District of Maryland
418	Massachusetts U.S. Circuit for the District of Massachusetts
419	Michigan U.S. Circuit for (all) District(s) of Michigan
420	Minnesota U.S. Circuit for the District of Minnesota
421	Mississippi U.S. Circuit for (all) District(s) of Mississippi
422	Missouri U.S. Circuit for (all) District(s) of Missouri
423	Nevada U.S. Circuit for the District of Nevada
424	New Hampshire U.S. Circuit for the District of New Hampshire
425	New Jersey U.S. Circuit for (all) District(s) of New Jersey
426	New York U.S. Circuit for (all) District(s) of New York
427	North Carolina U.S. Circuit for (all) District(s) of North Carolina
428	Ohio U.S. Circuit for (all) District(s) of Ohio
429	Oregon U.S. Circuit for the District of Oregon
430	Pennsylvania U.S. Circuit for (all) District(s) of Pennsylvania
431	Rhode Island U.S. Circuit for the District of Rhode Island
432	South Carolina U.S. Circuit for the District of South Carolina
433	Tennessee U.S. Circuit for (all) District(s) of Tennessee
434	Texas U.S. Circuit for (all) District(s) of Texas
435	Vermont U.S. Circuit for the District of Vermont
436	Virginia U.S. Circuit for (all) District(s) of Virginia
437	West Virginia U.S. Circuit for (all) District(s) of West Virginia
438	Wisconsin U.S. Circuit for (all) District(s) of Wisconsin
439	Wyoming U.S. Circuit for the District of Wyoming
440	Circuit Court of the District of Columbia
441	Nebraska U.S. Circuit for the District of Nebraska
442	Colorado U.S. Circuit for the District of Colorado
443	Washington U.S. Circuit for (all) District(s) of Washington
444	Idaho U.S. Circuit Court for (all) District(s) of Idaho
445	Montana U.S. Circuit Court for (all) District(s) of Montana
446	Utah U.S. Circuit Court for (all) District(s) of Utah
447	South Dakota U.S. Circuit Court for (all) District(s) of South Dakota
448	North Dakota U.S. Circuit Court for (all) District(s) of North Dakota
449	Oklahoma U.S. Circuit Court for (all) District(s) of Oklahoma
601	Court of Private Land Claims