Judgepedia:Writing about federal courts
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This article describes the content, naming, style, categorization and template guidelines for articles about:
See also: Judgepedia:Articles about federal judges and Judgepedia:WikiProject federal judiciary.
Federal courts
The federal courts you'll be writing about are either:
- The Supreme Court of the United States
- A federal circuit/appeals court
- A federal district court.
- One of the single-subject-matter federal courts, or other special federal court. With the exception of the United States bankruptcy courts, generally the single-subject-matter courts are singular.
Standard order of information
It helps if from one circuit/district court article to the next, there is a similarity in the order in which information is presented.
When there is a standard order in which to present information, it makes it easier for contributors, because they can follow that model.
Having a standard order in which information is provided also is a convenience for readers. It makes it easier for them to quickly identify where the sections of information are in which they are most interested.
We have adopted a two heading system, breaking information down into information about the courts and information about the judges.
Courts
Infobox
The new court info box is designed to give quick information about not only the current judges but also the number of posts, vacancies, and the current vacancy warning level. The code for the infobox is below.
{{Federal court HNT
|Page = FULL COURT TITLE
|Title = ABBREVIATED TITLE
|Circuit page = FULL CIRCUIT TITLE
|Circuit title = ABBREVIATED TITLE
|Image = SEAL IMAGE
|Posts = #
|Judges = #
|Vacancies = #
|Vacpct = {{Vacancy Warning Divider|#/#}}
|Chief = [[NAME]]
|Chief magistrate = [[NAME]]
|Active judges = [[NAME|LASTNAME]] • [[NAME|LASTNAME]]
|Senior judges = [[NAME|LASTNAME]] • [[NAME|LASTNAME]]
|Magistrate judges = [[NAME|LASTNAME]] • [[NAME|LASTNAME]]
|Courtphoto = [[Image:IMAGENAME.gif]]
}}{{TOC maker|1H=Court|1.1=Vacancy warning level|1.2=Jurisdiction|1.2.1=Cases heard|1.2.2=Case load|1.3=Clerk's office|1.4=History|1.4.1=Court history|1.4.2=Judicial posts|1.4.3=Notable decisions|1.4.4=Federal courthouse|1.5 = Major news|1.6= See also|1.7 = External links|1.8=References|2H=Judges}}
Instructions for the required criteria are as follows:
- FULL COURT TITLE = The name as it appears on the title of the page you are applying the template to.
- ABBREVIATED TITLE = For circuit courts, the abbreviated title is _____ Circuit. For District Courts, the abbreviated title is District of _______.
- FULL CIRCUIT TITLE = The full title of the applicable circuit page in which the court resides.
- SEAL IMAGE = The seal image is the seal for that district. If left blank the general Seal of the US district courts.
- # = indicate a number. The total number of posts can be found at FJC.gov by selecting the appropriate judicial district on the left.
- NAME = Should be replaced with the name as it appears at the top of that judges page. This will provide a functional link. Misspelled names should appear as red links and be corrected immediately.
- LASTNAME = This should only be the last name of the judge. WE have opted to use last names to reduce the space that the template occupies.
- Vacpct = This is a very important category and will color code the template. All you need to do is replace the "#" with numbers. The first number should be the number of vacant seats and the second number should be the number of total posts.
- Courtphoto/IMAGENAME = This is a place to put in an actual photo of the courthouse. If it is left blank, it will not display anything.
Finally, all names of judges should be separated using a • which must be copied and pasted into the wikicode(i.e. there is no way to get that on the wiki using the keyboard to my knowledge). These templates should be applied directly to the page and not to a separate template.
Introduction
Articles ideally start out with a robust introductory paragraph that serves as an executive summary. In the first sentence, the name of the court should be in bold as in this example:
- The United States District Court for the Eastern District of Missouri is a United States district court located in Missouri.
It is preferable if the first sentence states a concise definition of the court, as in the example immediately above. Sometimes, writers start out in the first sentence by giving some facts about the court; such as, "The Such-and-Such Court was founded in 1937" or "The Such-and-Such Court has 7 judges." These are important facts to include in the introduction, but the very first part of the sentence should tell the reader what the court is, rather than when it was founded or how many judges it has.
Information that can be included in the introductory paragraph includes:
- Where the court is located.
- How many judges are on the court.
- A statement about when the court was founded. (If you include a date, make sure to wiki-link the date to the appropriate calendar article.
- If the court is an appeals court, which lower courts does it hears appeals from?
- If the court is a trial court, where are its rulings appealed?
Note: Although there may be times in the evolution of any article when the introductory paragraph only has one-two sentences, the introductory section in a polished article should include at least one paragraph of four-five sentences, if not more.
Vacancy warning section
The vacancy warning project is a project adopted by Judgepedia in order to simplify the problem of judicial vacancies that the United States is currently facing. This section will need updated as new appointments are made or older judges retire and move to senior status. At a minimum, this section should highlight:
- The number of possible posts.
- The number of current vacancies.
- The percentage of current posts that are vacant, including which warning level that puts the court at, as described by the following key.
| Key: | |
| (Numbers indicate % of seats vacant.) | |
| 0% | 0%-10% |
| 10%-25% | 25%-40% |
| More than 40% | |
- Any upcoming activity to the number of judges, including upcoming retirements, pending appointments, etc.
Jurisdiction
One of the most important pieces of information we can provide to our readers is the jurisdiction of a particular court. District court jurisdictions should contain lists of counties or states, linked to the appropriate pages on Judgepedia, which the district court has jurisdiction over. Circuit courts should each contain a list of district courts and a clickable map showing where those districts fall.
Types of cases heard
What types of cases are heard by the court? If you're a contributor, you may think it is unduly repetitive from one federal district court article to the next to clarify what types of cases a federal district court hears, but from the point of view of a reader, they may be entirely unfamiliar with what federal district courts do and what types of cases they hear. So this information should appear in each of the federal district court articles under the heading entitled, Jurisdiction.
Case load
How many cases does the court hear every year?
Information about the number of cases a court hears is valuable because it gives readers an idea about how efficiently a particular court is administered. Case load information also provides a relatively objective look at how much work any particular judge on the court does as well. This information can be found at: US Courts official web page. This information should be included under the Jurisdiction heading as well. The best method for including this information is to include a table of the information over the last few years. Here is an example of the table:
Appellate Courts
| Federal Court Case Load Statistics* |
|---|
| Year | Starting case load: | Cases filed: | Total cases: | Cases terminated: | Remaining cases | Terminations on merits: | Terminations on Procedure | Cross Appeals: | Total Terminations: | Written decisions per Judge** |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2010 | 1464 | 1530 | 2994 | 1706 | 1288 | 965 | 647 | 94 | 1706 | 156 |
| 2009 | 1464 | 1746 | 3210 | 1750 | 1460 | 1049 | 635 | 66 | 1750 | 163 |
| 2008 | 1600 | 1631 | 3231 | 1776 | 1455 | 1020 | 705 | 51 | 1776 | 158 |
| 2007 | 1488 | 1863 | 3351 | 1752 | 1599 | 990 | 657 | 105 | 1752 | 164 |
| 2006 | 1643 | 1852 | 3495 | 2027 | 1468 | 1133 | 774 | 120 | 2027 | 165 |
| *All statistics are taken from the Official Federal Courts' Website (for District Courts) and reflect the calendar year through September. **This statistic reflects only judges that are active for the entire 12 month period. |
And the code looks like this:
{{Federal court case load
|Court level = Appellate
|Starting cases 10 = 1464
|Cases filed 10 = 1530
|Cases terminated 10 = 1706
|Merit terminations 10 = 965
|Procedure terminations 10 = 647
|Cross appeals 10 = 94
|Written decisions 10 = 156
|Posts = 15
<!-- 2009 -->
|Starting cases 9 = 1464
|Cases filed 9 = 1746
|Cases terminated 9 = 1750
|Merit terminations 9 = 1049
|Procedure terminations 9 = 635
|Cross appeals 9 = 66
|Written decisions 9 = 163
|Posts = 15
<!-- 2008 -->
|Starting cases 8 = 1600
|Cases filed 8 = 1631
|Cases terminated 8 = 1776
|Merit terminations 8 = 1020
|Procedure terminations 8 = 705
|Cross appeals 8 = 51
|Written decisions 8 = 158
|Posts = 15
<!-- 2007 -->
|Starting cases 7 = 1488
|Cases filed 7 = 1863
|Cases terminated 7 = 1752
|Merit terminations 7 = 990
|Procedure terminations 7 = 657
|Cross appeals 7 = 105
|Written decisions 7 = 164
|Posts = 15
<!-- 2006 -->
|Starting cases 6 = 1643
|Cases filed 6 = 1852
|Cases terminated 6 = 2027
|Merit terminations 6 = 1133
|Procedure terminations 6 = 774
|Cross appeals 6 = 120
|Written decisions 6 = 165
|Posts = 15
}}
District Courts
District courts are slightly different. Here is an example:
| Federal Court Case Load Statistics* |
|---|
| Year | Starting case load: | Cases filed: | Total cases: | Cases terminated: | Remaining cases: | Median time(Criminal)**: | Median time(Civil)**: | 3 Year Civil cases#: | Vacant posts:## | Trials/Post |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2010 | 3993 | 2866 | 6859 | 2999 | 3860 | 12.7 | 7.9 | 418(16%) | 45 | 10 |
| 2009 | 4061 | 3016 | 7077 | 3032 | 4045 | 12.7 | 9 | 410(14.6%) | 33 | 10 |
| 2008 | 3963 | 2980 | 6943 | 2886 | 4057 | 18.4 | 8.5 | 473(16.7%) | 17 | 13 |
| 2007 | 4114 | 2870 | 6984 | 3016 | 3968 | 15.3 | 9 | 408(14.8%) | 8.2 | 13 |
| 2006 | 4634 | 2947 | 7581 | 3458 | 4123 | 14.4 | 10.2 | 433(15.1%) | 0 | 7 |
| *All statistics are taken from the Official Federal Courts' Website and reflect the calendar year through September. **Time in months from filing to completion. #This statistic includes cases which have been appealed in higher courts. ##This is the total number of months that any all judicial posts had spent vacant that year. |
And the code looks like this:
{{Federal court case load
|Court level = District
|Starting cases 10 =
|Cases filed 10 =
|Cases terminated 10 =
|Median ruling criminal 10 =
|Median ruling civil 10 =
|Three year cases 10 =
|Vacant months 10 =
|Trials 10 =
|Posts 10 =
<!-- 2009 -->
|Starting cases 9 =
|Cases filed 9 =
|Cases terminated 9 =
|Median ruling criminal 9 =
|Median ruling civil 9 =
|Three year cases 9 =
|Vacant months 9 =
|Trials 9 =
|Posts 9 =
<!-- 2008 -->
|Starting cases 8 =
|Cases filed 8 =
|Cases terminated 8 =
|Median ruling criminal 8 =
|Median ruling civil 8 =
|Three year cases 8 =
|Vacant months 8 =
|Trials 8 =
|Posts 8 =
<!-- 2007 -->
|Starting cases 7 =
|Cases filed 7 =
|Cases terminated 7 =
|Median ruling criminal 7 =
|Median ruling civil 7 =
|Three year cases 7 =
|Vacant months 7 =
|Trials 7 =
|Posts 7 =
<!-- 2006 -->
|Starting cases 6 =
|Cases filed 6 =
|Cases terminated 6 =
|Median ruling criminal 6 =
|Median ruling civil 6 =
|Three year cases 6 =
|Vacant months 6 =
|Trials 6 =
|Posts 6 =
}}
Clerk's Office
The Clerk's office of district courts are a key contact point for individuals wishing to interact with the court. This section should contain:
- The Clerk's name.
- Office Hours.
- Key contact information
But may include any other relevant information.
History
- See also Writing about federal court history
A section on the court's history should inform the reader about key milestones in the life of the court such as:
- When the court was established.
- When additional judgeships were added to the court.
- For an example of an article with a good history section, see United States District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania and detailed history writing guidelines here.
The history section should contain the following sub-headings:
Court history
This section highlights the development of the court over time through legislation or changes to the judicial structure. Information on this can usually be found on the Courts official website.
Judicial posts
This section should contain a table highlighting the number of judicial posts within this court as it changed over the years, including the year of change and the new number of posts.
Notable cases
What are some of the court's notable decisions? List the decisions and elaborate on major decisions. In addition, this section should contain a link to any available databases of all of the decisions from the court in question.
Federal courthouse
This section should contain interesting information on the current federal court building and any information on the history of that building. In addition to history, this section should incorporate information about visiting the court building including hours of operation and security information. For district courts with multiple locations, each court should have its own level 4 (====) subheading, starting with the most prominent and working back. Separate subheadings should be used for the headings "Courthouse history" and "Visiting the court". Good resources for learning about the courthouses include the courts official page and the GSA official page.
Major news
This section should contain first and foremost a link to the respective states news page, in the format:
For new stories and other related material see [[STATE judicial news]].
Placed directly under the heading with no spacing or indentation. Other major news stories should appear below this with their own level 4 (====) subheading, starting with the most recent and working back.
Additional sections
Like every other wiki article, the standard "See also", "External links" and "References" sections should be included.
Judges
The judges section will appear under a different tab and will include a number of tables that are assembled using a wiki tool known as Dynamic Page Lists or DPL. DPL allows our staff to assemble information on the judges based on categories and information included on those specific judges pages. Consequentially, if you would like to alter any information on the judges tab, you should click on the link to the judge in question and change the information within that judges info box. It will automatically change on the Judges tab on the court's page. The following components are required for the Judges tab.
Infobox repeat
The infobox that appeared at the top of the Court tab should also appear at the top of Judges tab. The code can be copied exactly. The only change is that the title of the info box should be "Federal court HNT double" instead of "Federal court HNT". However, the TOC will need to be updated for the judges page. The TOC maker code should look like:
{{TOC maker|1H=Court|2H=Judges|2.1=Active Judges|2.1.1=Article III judges|2.1.2=Pending appointments|2.1.3=Senior judges|2.2=Past judges|2.2.1=Former Chief judges|2.2.2=Former judges}}
DPL warning
Because this page is constructed using DPL's we find it best to include the following information in each section of the page within comments:
<!-- The information on this page is assembled using "Dynamic Page Lists" or DPL's which collect information from a specified set of pages and assemble it in an easy to read format. If you wish to edit any information on this table, please click on the link to the judge you wish to edit and alter the information within that judges infobox. This table will automatically update with the new information.-->
The following headings should be copied exactly:
Active judges
Article III judges
This section should contain the following code: {{Federal appellate judges by court DPL|Category = CATEGORY|Court = COURT| Chief = CHIEF JUSTICE | Posts = #|Vacancies = #}} Instructions:
- Category = Circuit courts should have the category, "Judges of the _____ Circuit" where the ____ is the number spelled out (i.e. Second, Third, Fifth ,etc.). District courts should have the category: Federal judge, DISTRICT NAME where DISTRICT NAME is the title of the district, i.e. Eastern District of New York.
- COURT = The full title of the court, i.e. the title of the wiki page on which you are working.
- CHIEF JUSTICE = The name of the Chief Justice of the court.
- # = Numbers representing the number of posts or vacancies respectively.
Pending Appointments
This section should contain the following code: {{Federal appointees by court DPL|Category = CATEGORY|Court = COURT| Appointees = #| Vacancies = # }}
Instructions:
- Category = Circuit courts should have the category, "Appointee, _____ Circuit" where the ____ is the number spelled out (i.e. Second, Third, Fifth ,etc.). District courts should have the category: Appointee, DISTRICT NAME where DISTRICT NAME is the title of the district, i.e. Eastern District of New York.
- COURT = The full title of the court, i.e. the title of the wiki page on which you are working.
- CHIEF JUSTICE = The name of the Chief Justice of the court.
- # = Numbers representing the number of appointees and vacancies respectively.
Senior judges
This section should contain the following code: {{Federal seniors by court DPL|Category = CATEGORY|Court = COURT| Judges = #}}
Instructions:
- Category = Circuit courts should have the category, "Judge on senior status, _____ Circuit" where the ____ is the number spelled out (i.e. Second, Third, Fifth ,etc.). District courts should have the category: Judge on senior status, DISTRICT NAME where DISTRICT NAME is the title of the district, i.e. Eastern District of New York.
- COURT = The full title of the court, i.e. the title of the wiki page on which you are working.
- CHIEF JUSTICE = The name of the Chief Justice of the court.
- # = Numbers representing the number of judges.
Past judges
Former chief judges
This section should contain the following code: {{Former chief judges DPL|Court=COURT}}
Instructions:
- COURT = Circuit courts should have the category, "_____ Circuit" where the ____ is the number spelled out (i.e. Second, Third, Fifth ,etc.). District courts should have the category: DISTRICT NAME where DISTRICT NAME is the title of the district, i.e. Eastern District of New York.
Former judges
This section should contain the following code: {{Former federal judges by court DPL|Category = Category}}
- Category = Circuit courts should have the category, "Former federal judge, _____ Circuit" where the ____ is the number spelled out (i.e. Second, Third, Fifth ,etc.). District courts should have the category: "Former federal judge, DISTRICT NAME" where DISTRICT NAME is the title of the district, i.e. Eastern District of New York.
Stylistic considerations
- In section headings, you should generally only capitalize the first word. In other words, you'd call a section about a court's magistrate judges "Magistrate judges", not "Magistrate Judges".
Templates
If there is a template for the judges of this court, that template should generally be included at the end of the article (after the "references" section and before the categories). Templates should appear below the <headertabs /> tag so that they appear on both pages.
See:
The last line of code should be the __NOTOC__ tag to prevent a malfunctioning TOC from appearing.