Knight Chair in Investigative & Enterprise Reporting
‘Worst-performing judge’ — continued:
Search for information by state
ALABAMA
The Alabama Web site will direct you to a fee-based subscription service that charges $200 a year. Note that there is no guarantee that the names of the lower court judges ae included in the documents. If you prefer to bypass the fee-based service, the opinions can also be found in the Reporter Series of books in a law library. The judges are named on each opinion in the books.
ALASKA
There are two appellate courts in Alaska, the state supreme court and the court of appeals. The supreme court is the highest level of state court in Alaska. It hears appeals from lower state courts and also administers the state's judicial system. The court of appeals has the authority to hear appeals in cases involving criminal prosecution, post-conviction relief, juvenile delinquency, extradition, habeas corpus, probation and parole, bail and sentencing matters. Both courts should be researched because they share the appeals responsibilty. Go to the Alaska state Web site, and scroll down to find appellate and supreme court opinions and memorandums. You will want to survey all, and you will find the judge's name on the opinions.
ARIZONA
The appellate court opinions are on the Arizona supreme court Web site. There are two divisions listed, and the names of the judges are in the opinions.
ARKANSAS
The Arkansas site has a system of access to opinions that allows searching for individual cases. If you are looking for opinions for the entire state or a circulation area, you have to get the names of all the judges and enter them. You will want both the circuit and district courts. You will have to separate the supreme and appellate court decisions.
CALIFORNIA
California uses a district system for the appellate court. Look at the Appellate Cases Web site. To find specific cases, you can narrow the search down to county or counties, and then you can mark the item for appellate decisions only. You also can use the fee-based service, FindLaw, to do an efficient search.
COLORADO
Opinions of the Colorado Court of Appeals are a service of the Colorado Bar Association. The summaries of the cases contain the names of the lower court judges.
CONNECTICUT
For Connecticut opinions, click on Appellate Court Archives, then choose a year, and you will see the opinions. The judge's name is on each opinion.
DELAWARE
In the Delaware court system, the state's supreme court hears most of the appeals, but there are two courts below that also handle some appeals. However, the site does not include names of lower court judges, so you may have to also consult a law library.
FLORIDA
Opinions for Florida can be found at the supreme court site. The appeals courts are divided into districts and the opinions are searchable. However, details of the criminal court cases may have to be obtained from a law library.
GEORGIA
The Web site for the Court of Appeals of Georgia includes a search engine that will retrieve a particular opinion by case number or plaintiff/defendant. But it does not include the judge's name in the searchable categories. You can find the full court opinion with a subscription to LexisOne from LexisNexis.
HAWAII
Search the Hawaii appellate court Web site by date or keyword.
IDAHO
Idaho has a easily navigable Web site, but its cases only go back to July 2005. You will need to get both civil and criminal cases, which are in separate lists at the Idaho government site. The judges' names are listed at the top of the opinions. For opinions issued prior to July 2005, consult a law library.
ILLINOIS
Opinions are posted online at the appellate courts of Illinois. You will find the documents listed by year; open one and you will find cases listed by district. The judge's name is shown on each opinion.
INDIANA
When searching Indiana opinions at the state's judiciary site, you will need to use the "Find" function under the "Edit" menu in your browser. The opinions are in PDFs, and the site doesn't include a search function.
IOWA
FindLaw offers a free database of Iowa supreme and appellate court opinions, with the names of the lower court judges included on the first page of each opinion.
KANSAS
The official published reports are online at the Kansas courts Web site.
KENTUCKY
Information is on the Kentucky courts Web site. Before you use the search engine, click on the list of counties. You will find the local judges listed under "dockets." You will need a list of judges in your area. The names of the lower court judges are prominently displayed at the top of the opinions.
LOUISIANA
Appellate courts in Louisiana are divided into districts. Find the appropriate district at Fourth Circuit Web site. The judge's name appears on the first page of each opinion.
MAINE
There is no separate appeals court in Maine. The supreme court handles some of the cases and the superior court (the trial court) handles others. Search the opinions at he state courts Web site. The most recent opinions are in PDF files, and judges' names are in the first paragraph of the text of the opinions.
MARYLAND
Maryland has two appellate courts. Go to the Maryland courts Web site and mark "both appellate courts" in the list. You can find cases but no judges' names. LexisNexis (a fee-based service at web.lexis-nexis.com) can provide the judges' names.
MASSACHUSETTS
You will find the appellate court cases at Findlaw.
MICHIGAN
Search the opinions at the Michigan court of appeals site. Set the listing at "All Appellate" and insert the time period appropriate for your survey. Then scroll down and click on "Lower Court" listing. You will get a dropdown list of all the counties, where you can choose the appropriate one. It is important to click on the docket sheet, not the opinion, because the opinion will not provide the name of the judge.
MINNESOTA
The names of judges can be found in connection with appeals decisions on the summaries of cases but not in the opinions or on Findlaw. They can be found at site for the Minnesota courts. You also can review the cases at a law library.
MISSISSIPPI
Supreme and appellate court opinions are available at the Mississippi Lawyer Web site. The trial judge is named at the top of each opinion.
MISSOURI
Go to the Missouri courts site, where you will find a list of opinions from the appellate courts and the state supreme court.
MONTANA
The district courts in Montana are administratively structured into 22 judicial districts. The district courts process all felony cases and probate cases, most civil cases at law and in equity, certain special actions and proceedings, all civil actions that may result in a finding against the state for the payment of money, naturalization proceedings, various writs and some narrowly defined ballot issues. See the courts site to search the opinions.
NEBRASKA
Review court opinions at the Nebraska Court of Appeals site. Only 2006 opinions are currently available on the site. The Lexis-Nexis fee-based service provides information on opinions issued previous to 2006.
NEVADA
Only the most recent decisions are available at the Nevada Supreme Court Web site. For previously issued opinions, consult the Lexis-Nexis site.
NEW HAMPSHIRE
Only the New Hampshire Supreme Court hears appeals in that state, and they can be searched at the courts site. Find "Search" on that page or search the N.H. Judicial Branch Web site. There you can call up the opinions or search for a judge by name. In New Hampshire opinions, the judge's last name appears in brackets after the name of the lower court and is followed by a comma and a "J" for "Justice."
NEW JERSEY
The law school at Rutgers University includes a search engine.
However, the names of the judges are not included with the opinions. They will have to be researched through other sources such as law journals.
NEW MEXICO
Find information at the New Mexico Supreme Court and Court of Appeals Web site. Note that the opinions are listed on the right side of the page, and they don't appear to be in any particular order. The first two numbers in the case numbers indicate the year the opinion was issued. You also may want to use Findlaw at www.findlaw.com/casecode/, which displays searchable cases.
NEW YORK
In New York, the lower level trial court is called The Supreme Court and what other states call "supreme" is the New York State Appellate Court. Together, the courts are known as the New York Unified Court System. The appellate court is divided into divisions, and they are where the day-to-day examination of lower court judges can be found. The records of opinions are kept by the New York State Law Reporting Bureau and can be searched at the site for the New York court system.
NORTH CAROLINA
North Carolina has a searchable Web site. The first paragraph of the text of the opinion will provide the name of the judge.
NORTH DAKOTA
The North Carolina case listing and opinions search includes the lower court judges' names.
OHIO
Reversed judges are not listed online, and they are not in the law library books researched for Ohio. You may want to consider starting with a search at the site for the Supreme Court of Ohio. Click on "clerk and case information," which will take you to opinion summaries. If you compile a list of all reversals for a particular county, then you can use the lower court case numbers and cross-reference them with the docket sheets from the county courts. The larger counties provide this information online, and many smaller counties have only one judge each.
OKLAHOMA
The attorney general's office maintains a searchable database of court opinions. Oklahoma cases also are searchable by the judge's name at the Wyoming State Law Library Web site at http://wyom.state.wy.us/applications/oscn/Search.asp?simple=false.
OREGON
Search for opinions at the Oregon state Web site. The site includes a list of opinions by date and a search engine. The name of the lower court judge is on the front page of the opinion.
PENNSYLVANIA
The appellate system in Pennsylvania is covered by the Commonwealth Court and the Superior Court. In the Commonweatlh Court opinions, the judges are not named. The lack of judges' names can be remedied by locating the plaintiff/defendants (or the lower-court case file numbers) for reversed cases, which are listed in the dockets online. Those cases include the judges' names, which can then be connected to the reversed opinions.
RHODE ISLAND
The Supreme Court in Rhode Island handles all appeals cases and issues its opinions in PDFs. At the end of the opinions, you will find a "cover sheet" that lists the lower court judge and the "conclusions" section, which lists the findings. The trial court in Rhode Island is known as the superior court.
SOUTH CAROLINA
Go to the South Carolina judicial system Web site and click on "opinions and orders." Then click on "published orders and opinions." Select a year in the lefthand column and choose a month, then open a case file. The judge's name will be up front. Follow the same procedure for "unpublished" opinions.
SOUTH DAKOTA
The Supreme Court is the only appeals court in South Dakota. You will find it at the South Dakota judicial system site. Select a year in the lefthand column for a complete list. When you pull up an opinion, you will find the judge's name on the first page.
TENNESSEE
Tennessee opinions are available online at through the Tennessee Administrative Office of the Courts. Tennessee has two appeals courts, one for criminal and one for civil matters. You will want to click on each to do a complete study of judges. Cases are listed by the year in which the opinion was published. For each, you will find a summary of the case and whether it was affirmed or reversed, but you will have to click again to get the full opinion with the name of the judge. You also can click on "search site" in the lefthand column and search for a judge or a county. Enter a name and you will get a list of all mentions in the opinions. Click on the case numbers to get specifics for those cases. The Tennessee site includes case summaries written in laymen's terms.
TEXAS
Search opinions at the Texas state courts Web site.
UTAH
Published and unpublished opinions are at the Utah courts site. Utah cases also are searchable by the judge's name at the Wyoming State Law Library Web site.
VERMONT
Vermont appellate opinions are handled by the state's supreme court. The trial judge is shown on the slip opinions but not on the published opinions. The latter can be found on Lexis-Nexus.
VIRGINIA
The Virginia opinions are online at the Virginia courts Web site. There you will find listings for published and unpublished opinions. You will want to count reversals in both. The judges' names are included with the opinions.
WASHINGTON
See the supreme court and appellate court decisions Web site for the state of Washington. There you will find a search engine and a list in the lefthand column. Click on Washington Appellate Courts and you will get a list of the case number of every opinion since 1969. Click on a case number to get the names of the litigants.
WEST VIRGINIA
The West Virginia Supreme Court of Appeals is the appellate court division. Serach the opinions at The state Web site. Cases are listed by date, and the name of the lower court judge is on the first page of each opinion.
WISCONSIN
Appellate court decisions area available online through the Wisconsin Bar Association. The name of the lower court judge is included in the introduction to the opinion. You will find an advanced search engine in the left column. Click on Appellate Court in the list on the form, enter the name of the judge, and you will see all related opinions.
WYOMING
In Wyoming appeals are heard by the Supreme Court. You will find the listings of the opinions at teh state courts Web site. Judges' names are near the top of the first page of each opinion. You also have the option of going to the state government site for Wyoming, where you can search for opinions by the judge's name.