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IDAHO COURT DATA REQUESTS

 

Idaho's Judicial Branch welcomes data requests from members of the public.

 

*** JUDICIAL BRANCH COMPILED DATA REQUEST FORM ***

 

*** IDAHO COURT DATA WEBSITE: View case, charge and financial data from Idaho's state courts ***

Idaho Court Administrative Rule 32 governs access to court records within the state's unified court system. Depending on the information sought, your request may need to go to one of several possible custodians:

If you are looking for your own personal court records, please contact the clerk of the district court in the county where your case was filed.

If you seek general information on individual cases, please visit Idaho’s online case information system (mycourts.idaho.gov) or contact the specific clerk's office of the court that has jurisdiction over the case. Documents from a case file are not publicly available online and must be procured through the relevant clerk's office. The exception is the opinions of the Supreme Court and Court of Appeals, which can be found at this link.

If you are performing party verification in background checks, visit courtrequests.idaho.gov.

Information on court records in the federal District of Idaho, which is not part of Idaho's state court system, can be found here.

If you are looking for data compiled from the courts’ case management system, please use this form. In order to define the scope of your request, you will need to answer several questions about who is requesting the data, the intended purpose of the request, and whether you intend to share any of the data. Much of this information is necessary to prioritize large data requests, which pursuant to ICAR 32(f) may be granted or denied depending on whether adequate resources exist to fulfill them. (We suggest you first check the court data website link above, as it may already provide what you seek.)

If you are unsure whether your request involves compiled data, please see the FAQs below.

If you have questions about court records and these processes, please contact Court Communications Manager Nate Poppino.

 

Frequently Asked Questions

 

How is access to court records governed?


Idaho Court Administrative Rule 32 governs what records in Idaho’s statewide unified court system are public and how they are managed. This rule, which is distinct from the Idaho Public Records Act, states: “[t]he public has a right to access the judicial department's declarations of law and public policy, and to access the records of all proceedings open to the public.” The rule seeks to promote accessibility and government accountability while protecting privacy, minimizing individual harm, and avoiding undue burden to the business of the judiciary.


What determines the custodian of a record?


ICAR 32(j)(2) defines the custodian for various categories of judicial records. For example, the clerk of the district court is the custodian for any records in a case file in their relevant district court or magistrate court. For any records of those courts not in a case file, the custodian becomes the trial court administrator of the relevant judicial district, or a judge or magistrate selected by the judicial district’s administrative district judge. The administrative director of the courts is the custodian for any data compiled from the Judicial Branch’s case management system.

In addition, ICAR 32(j)(3) identifies custodian judges for each of these categories. The custodian judge can rule on questions of whether a record may be released to the public and on requests to reconsider a request previously denied by the custodian.


What can be requested?

Many basic sources of court information are open for public access, including case summaries, orders and judgments, transcripts and recording of public hearings, and various administrative records that are not otherwise exempted. ICAR 32(d) provides the general categories of records available to the public.


Certain records are largely exempt from disclosure, including those in cases involving juveniles, mental health commitments, adoptions, parental rights, and guardianships or conservatorships. A full list of court records exempt from disclosure can be found at ICAR 32(g).


Bulk distribution of electronic court data is not allowed under ICAR 32(e), though the Idaho Supreme Court at its discretion can grant such requests “for scholarly, journalistic, political, governmental, research, evaluation, or statistical purposes where the identification of specific individuals is ancillary to the request.”


The Supreme Court may also consider requests from any member of the public for compiled data.


Per ICAR 32(b)(10), “compiled data” is “information that is derived from the selection, aggregation or reformulation by the court of some of the information from more than one individual court record.” It is a data set that includes information from across multiple court records.


Anyone may ask for copies of existing compiled data made up solely of information that is not otherwise exempt from disclosure. Under ICAR 32(f), the Supreme Court or its delegated staff may also choose to compile new data sets if the resources are available to perform the work and if the work is deemed an appropriate use of those public resources.


The data request form linked above is for requests seeking compiled data or listings of individual cases or charges. Submitting this form does not guarantee the data will be provided, and data requests may be denied pursuant to ICAR 32.


Please note that these requests go through an approval process and compiling information can be time consuming. ISC staff may contact you directly with additional questions.


How long will it take for my request to be fulfilled?


ICAR 32(j)(4) states, “[e]fforts should be made to respond promptly to requests for records.” For most records, the custodian has three working days from the receipt of the request to provide records, deny a request, or refer the matter to the custodian judge for determination. If the custodian determines it will take more than three working days to decide on the request or gather the records, they must notify the requesting party within 10 working days.

What if I am looking for individual records from more than one court case? Is that compiled data?


Requests for copies of individual records from multiple cases are not compiled data and should go to the relevant court clerk for the case (the Teton County Clerk’s Office would be the custodian for district court files in Teton County, for example, and the Clerk of the Supreme Court would be the custodian for Supreme Court case files).


Requests for information that must be compiled from across multiple case files in the manner previously described must use the data request form linked above.

 

As the Third Branch of Government, we provide access to justice through the timely, fair, and impartial resolution of cases.

 

Members of the
Idaho Supreme Court

Chief Justice G Richard Bevan
Justice Robyn M. Brody
Justice Gregory W. Moeller
Justice Colleen D. Zahn
Justice Cynthia K.C. Meyer



Members of the
Idaho Court of Appeals

Chief Judge David W. Gratton
Judge Molly J Huskey
Judge Jessica M. Lorello

 

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