The database export, updated nightly, is available in two formats: (1) organized by judge, with all data relating to a judge grouped together (i.e., flat file); and (2) organized by the following categories: Demographics, Federal Judicial Service, Other Federal Judicial Service, Education, Professional Career, and Other Nominations/Recess Appointments, and then by the unit of analysis (e.g., judicial position, educational institution) for each category (i.e., relational database).

For each format, both a finished Microsoft Excel workbook and comma-delimited CSV files are provided. Users may download the CSV files and import them into any software program.

Format 1: Organized by Judge (Flat File)
Export organized by judge (Excel workbook)
Export organized by judge (CSV file)

Format 2: Organized by Category (Relational Database)
Export organized by category (Excel workbook)
Demographics (CSV file)
Federal Judicial Service (CSV file)
Other Federal Judicial Service (CSV file)
Education (CSV file)
Professional Career (CSV file)
Other Nominations/Recess Appointments (CSV file)
 

General notes about the export:

• Although the data in the Biographical Database of Article III Federal Judges is historical, it is not necessarily unchanging. The Federal Judicial History Office makes every effort to present data that is as accurate and complete as possible. Occasionally, however, errors or omissions necessitating edits or additions to the historical data are discovered. Researchers with questions regarding discrepancies in the data over time or any other aspect of the export should contact the History Office (history@fjc.gov).
• As a general rule, dates of termination due to appointment to another court reflect the date on which the judge took the oath of office for the new court, and thus may post-date the commission for the latter position. In December 2023, after it became apparent that some data did not conform to this default rule, 98 dates of termination due to appointment to another court were changed. While the vast majority of these dates now conform to the default rule, the best available evidence indicated a different date should be used in a handful of cases. This determination sometimes required choices between conflicting sources.
• Excel does not recognize pre-1900 dates as dates. Therefore, the finished Excel workbooks present date columns as text in yyyy-mm-dd format to make them fully sortable. In contrast, the CSV files present these columns in mm/dd/yyyy format so that other software programs will recognize them as dates.
• Published references to information from this database should use the citation: History of the Federal Judiciary. http://www.fjc.gov. Web site of the Federal Judicial Center, Washington, DC. 

Notes on terminology (column headers and other terms requiring further explanation):

• “nid” refers to “Node ID.” This is a unique identifier for each judge generated solely for purposes of the FJC’s biographical database. The Node ID also corresponds to each judge’s biography on the website and may be used to create a link to a biography (for example, the biography of a judge with Node ID 1394646 will appear at: http://www.fjc.gov/node/1394646).
• “jid” refers to “Judge Identification Number.” This was used as a unique identifier for each judge, generated for purposes of the database, until July 2016. These numbers are no longer used and will not be generated for judges added to the database after July 2016, but will remain in the export as a courtesy to researchers who may have relied on them.
• “Appointment Title” refers to titles received at the time of appointment, such as Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States, rather than temporary titles held as a result of seniority, such as the chief judge of a U.S. district court.
• “Reappointing President” and “Party of Reappointing President” are used in the rare instances in which a judge was appointed to the same seat by two different presidents, having received a recess appointment from the first and a nomination, followed by Senate confirmation, from the second.
• “Seat ID” (which replaces the field labeled “Vice (predecessor)”) is a code, assigned by the FJC to each judicial service record in the database, that indicates the order of succession on each court. The code consists of three components: (1) court; (2) seat number; and (3) order of succession. For example, the first judge to occupy the third authorized judgeship on the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York would be assigned a Seat ID of NYSD0301; that judge’s successor would have the code NYSD0302, and so forth. The Seat ID codes replicate the information found on the succession charts located in the Courts section of the website.
• Judiciary Committee Action: Prior to April 1864, and on a few occasions thereafter, nominations were listed in the Senate Executive Journal as having been reported by the committee, with no further detail given. Those nominations are listed in the export as "Reported (no recommendation recorded)." On the rare occasions when the committee stated explicitly that it was reporting a nomination without a recommendation regarding whether it should be confirmed, the term "Reported (without recommendation)" is used.
• “Service as Chief Judge, Begin” and “Service as Chief Judge, End” are used to indicate years of temporary service as a chief judge, such as that on a U.S. district court, rather than service in a presidentially appointed chief position, as described above. Columns labeled “2^nd Service as Chief Judge” are used to accommodate the rare instances in which a judge has served multiple terms as chief on the same court.
• “Other Federal Judicial Service” includes a wide variety of offices, such as judge of a territorial court; judge of a special court such as the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court; U.S. bankruptcy judge; U.S. magistrate judge; judge of a military court; and many others. These positions vary widely with respect to the method of appointment, the scope of jurisdiction and judicial duties, and the length of the term of office. The only factor common to all is the positon’s creation or authorization by the U.S. Congress.
• “Other Nominations/Recess Appointments” indicates instances in which a person who was or later became an Article III judge received an attempted presidential recess appointment or presidential nomination to an Article III judgeship that did not result in a successful appointment, for any of a variety of reasons.

Notes for users of the export prior to May 8, 2017:

• The column formerly labeled “Retirement from Active Service” has been retitled “Senior Status Date” to better reflect the terminology used most commonly within the judiciary and to avoid confusion with full retirement from judicial service.
• The column formerly labeled "Vice (predecessor)" has been replaced with "Seat ID," as explained in the terminology notes above.
• The column which previously indicated “yes” or “no” with regard to a Senate voice vote has been changed to reflect either “Voice Vote” or “Roll Call Vote.”
• Nominations reported favorably by the Senate Judiciary Committee, listed formerly as “Reported with Recommendation,” are now listed with the more accurate term “Reported (favorably).” Prior to April 1864, and on a few occasions thereafter, nominations were listed in the Senate Executive Journal as having been reported by the committee, with no further detail given. Those nominations are listed in the export as "Reported (no recommendation recorded)." On the rare occasions when the committee stated explicitly that it was reporting a nomination without a recommendation regarding whether it should be confirmed, the term "Reported (without recommendation)" is used. Where records of committee reports are incomplete, the term “Reported (unknown)” is used. Nominations with no Judiciary Committee action are now listed as “No Committee before December 10, 1816,” or “Not Referred to Committee,” where applicable.
• Service records for the Commerce Court, which operated from 1910 to 1913, have been removed from the portion of the database containing Article III service records and moved to the Other Federal Judicial Service category, described above, because appointments to this court were made for limited terms and not “during good behavior” as Article III requires. All five judges who served on the Commerce Court (Robert Archbald, John Carland, William Hunt, Martin Knapp, and Julian Mack) remain in the database, having received simultaneous Article III appointments as circuit judges (and three of them having had prior Article III service).