Gardner v. Howard’s Empirical Analysis
109 F.3d 427 · 1997
Citation profile
17 federal appellate · 4 district ·
How this case has been cited
Cited by 40 later decisions — most recently April 2024 · most notably Cousins v. Lockyer (2009), Duffy v. Wolle (1997)
17 federal appellate · 4 district ·
Later decisions citing this case, by decade. The current decade is in progress, and our corpus holds fewer opinions from the most recent years, so the latest bars are undercounted — not a real decline.
Relationships
Applies 42 U.S.C. § 1983 (Civil Rights Act of 1871 / Section 1983 (Ku Klux Klan Act))
Relies on Harlow v. Fitzgerald · Wolff v. McDonnell · Behrens v. Pelletier · Swint v. Chambers County Commission · Atlas Roofing Co. v. Occupational Safety & Health Review Commission
Most-quoted passages
The sentences later courts lift from this opinion, ranked by how many decisions quote each — the parts of the opinion doing the work. These counts are smaller than the citation total above because most of the 40 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.
“The act of opening incoming mail does not injure an inmate’s right to access the courts. The policy that incoming confidential legal mail should be opened in inmates’ presence instead serves the prophylactic purpose of assuring them that confidential attorney-client mail has not been improperly read in the guise of searching for contraband.”
1 later decision quote this exact passage · from the majoritye.g. Beaulieu v. Ludeman“[T]here is no § 1983 liability for violating prison policy. [Plaintiff] must prove that[the official] violated his constitutional right . . . .”
1 later decision quote this exact passage · from the majority“Rule 56(f) does not condone a fishing expedition”
1 later decision quote this exact passage · from the majoritye.g. Duffy v. Wolle
How this case has been treated — in progress
Whether each later court followed, distinguished, criticized, or overruled this decision. The treatment classification (task #35) runs highest-cited cases first and lights up here as it reaches this one.