9615087 Gryski The primary objective of this project is to construct a data base comprised of essential appointment and leaving information for U.S. District Court judges from 1789-1996. The district bench underwent an explosive growth in the past three decades, mushrooming from around 250 judgeships in 1960 to more than 650 today. At the same time retirements from these offices reached record levels, signaling perhaps a new perspective on lifetime service. Three types of data will be collected: the legislative history behind the creation of each court and seat; information on the officeholders and their appointments and departures, and position histories that will enable us to track each position and the judges occupying it over time. The centerpiece of the project is position numbering. Once we establish the succession of occupants to every seat on each state's district bench, then all other objectives fall into place. The data will make it feasible to study fundamental questions about the federal judiciary such as the influence of executive-legislative relations on bench growth, or the role of senatorial courtesy in the appointment process. The data will be archived as an electronic multi-user data base, available to the scholarly community. We will use the data to study: a) the partisan life cycles of the district bench, and how they are influenced by institutional control of the other branches; b) the racial and gender diversification of the district courts, and c) generational changes in seats.
