For nearly a decade, a team of researchers was busily at work preparing a data base on the decisions of the United States Supreme Court. This book documents those efforts. Specifically, this book is a codebook and a user's guide to the data. In addition to documenting each of the codes in the data set, this book also provides specific details on how the variables were coded, as well as information about the reliability of the results. Three major aspects of these decisions are addressed: the values expressed in the opinions of the Court (including concurrences, dissents, etc.), the attributes of the litigants in each case, and the nature and extent of participation in the litigation by amicus curiae.