Court of Claims Lab

Building a database of every case the Court of Claims has decided in its 170-plus-year history.

The Court of Claims Lab is Directed by Dr. Logan Strother, Associate Professor of Political Science. 

The United States Court of (Federal) Claims is a little-studied but crucially important federal court. Its primary duty is to resolve money and contract claims made against the national government. In doing so, however, it plays an important role in implementing federal policy; for this reason, it is a frequent site of litigation against government policies.

People sue the government in the Court of Federal Claims for a huge variety of reasons, including enforcement of Indigenous peoples’ rights under treaties, reparations for wrongful criminal convictions, natural disaster mitigation actions, management of water rights, enforcement of intellectual property rights (e.g., patent and copyright), and much more.

Despite its importance, the work of the Court of Claims has not received the attention it deserves from scholars. The Court of Claims Lab is working to fix that. Once complete, the Court of Claims Database will be hosted here and publicly available for all to use. 

Research

Dichio, Michael, Logan Strother, and Ryan Williams. 2022. “‘To Render Prompt Justice’: The Origin and Construction of the United States Court of Claims.” Studies in American Political Development 36(2): 120-137.
"The Politics of Restitution for Wrongful Imprisonment by the US Federal Government"
 
"(Re)Constructing Judicial Independence: The United States Court of Claims, 1855-1887"
 
"'Just Automate It': The Good, Bad, and Ugly of Automated Coding of Complex Text Data with Large Language Models"

People

Affiliated Faculty

Logan Strother is Associate Professor of Political Science at Purdue University
Role: Director of the Court of Claims Lab, and co-PI on the Court of Claims project.

Michael Dichio is Assistant Professor of Political Science at the University of Utah
Role: co-PI on the Court of Claims project.

Ryan Williams is Assistant Professor of Criminology and Sociology at the University of New England
Role: co-PI on the Court of Claims project.

Current Graduate Research Assistants

Jasper Neath
Jasper is a third-year graduate student in the Political Science department. Jasper studies environmental policy and environmental justice issues in the United States, with a specific focus on issues at the state and local levels. 
Role:  Jasper is leading data management, cleaning, and preparation for the Court of Claims Database project, and actively mentors the undergraduate research assistants on the team.

Kayla Gurganus
Kayla Gurganus is doctoral candidate in political science. Her research investigates equity in municipal climate action plans, and the impact of Supreme Court decisions on agency implementation of environmental policies.
Role: Kayla is assisting in the training of graduate and undergraduate research assistants, and with data management tasks.

Mazie Bernard
Mazie Bernard is a doctoral candidate in political science. She studies sustainable development through international organizations, like the World Bank. She has a specific interest in energy development and technology.
Role: Mazie is contributing to the cleaning and preparation of data for the Court of Claims Database.

Current Undergraduate Research Assistants 

Ilene Alpha
Lucy Bolles
Lauren Miller
Isaac Morton
Violet Mulligan (University of Utah)
Abhi Praveen
Reva Singh 
Maura Struckhoff 
Kaelyn Tai
Marley White

Graduate Student Alumni

Kayla Young
Kayla Young graduated with her Ph.D. in August of 2023.

Alumni

Claire Abbasse
Olivia Anderson (University of Utah)
Lucas Butterfield (University of Utah)
Benjamin Camp
Lydia Delaney
Jiayi Du
Tia Elias
Danielle Evinger
Julia Fezatt
Stasia Haideman
Jacob Hirschbeck
Meredith Jenkins (University of Utah)
Emma Johnson
Emily Ku
Tommy Lauber
Trinity Montswillo (Bates College)
Ella Morfas
Marilyn Mutinika
Will Myer
Christy O’Brien
Sophia Rivera
Shyeonna Robinson
Aneesh Vemuri
Ryan Weidenaar
Riley Welsh