AUTHOR=Adusumilli Keerthi , Brown Bradford , Harrison Joey , Koehler Matthew , Kutarnia Jason , Michel Shaun , Olivier Max , Pfeifer Craig , Slater Zoryanna , Thompson William , Vetter Dianna , Zacharowicz Renee TITLE=The Structure and Dynamics of Modern United States Federal Case Law JOURNAL=Frontiers in Physics VOLUME=9 YEAR=2022 URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/physics/articles/10.3389/fphy.2021.695219 DOI=10.3389/fphy.2021.695219 ISSN=2296-424X ABSTRACT=

The structure and dynamics of modern United States Federal Case Law are examined here. The analyses utilize large-scale network analysis tools, natural language processing techniques, and information theory to examine all the federal opinions in the Court Listener database, containing approximately 1.3 million judicial opinions and 11.4 million citations. The analyses are focused on modern United States Federal Case Law, as cases in the Court Listener database range from approximately 1926–2020 and include most Federal jurisdictions. We examine the data set from a structural perspective using the citation network, overall and by time and space (jurisdiction). In addition to citation structure, we examine the dataset from a topical and information theoretic perspective, again, overall and by time and space.