Ayers Scott McCabe’s Empirical Analysis
Citation profile
7 federal appellate · 25 district · 81 state decisions
How this case has been cited
Cited by 211 later decisions (12 by the Supreme Court) — most recently March 2026 · most notably Will v. Michigan Department of State Police (1989), Murray v. Wilson Distilling Co. (1909)
7 federal appellate · 25 district · 81 state decisions — followed in 30 states
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
Relies on Osborn v. President Directors and Company of the Bank of the United States · Ex parte Lange · Bain Jr · United States v. Lee · Ex parte Virginia
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 211 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.
“The judicial power of the United States shall not be construed to extend to any suit in law or equity commenced or prosecuted against one of the United (525) States by citizens of another State or by citizens or subjects of any foreign State.”
2 later decisions quote this exact passage · from the dissent“The very object and purpose of the 11th amendment were to prevent the indignity of subjecting a State to the coercive process of judicial tribunals at the instance of private individuals. It was thought to be neither becoming nor convenient that the several States of the Union, invested with that large residuum of sovereignty which had not been delegated to the United States, should be summoned as defendants to answer the complaints of private persons, whether citizens of other States or aliens, or that the course of their public policy and the administration of their public affairs should be subject to and controlled by the mandates of judicial tribunals, without their consent, and in favor of individual interests.”
1 later decision quote this exact passage · from the majority““Whether (the State of Virginia) is the actual party, in the sense of the prohibition of the constitution, must be determined by a consideration of the nature of the case as presented on the whole record.””
1 later decision quote this exact passage · from the majority
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.