Field v. Clark’s Empirical Analysis
143 U.S. 649 · 1892
Citation profile
254 federal appellate · 158 district · 501 state decisions
How this case has been cited
Cited by 1,514 later decisions (174 by the Supreme Court) — most recently February 2026 · most notably Baker v. Carr (1962), Mistretta v. United States (1989)
254 federal appellate · 158 district · 501 state decisions — followed in 49 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 Aaron Cooley v. The Board of Wardens of the Port of Philadelphia to the Use of the Society for the Relief of Distressed Pilots Their Widows and Children Same · Martin Fairfax v. Hunter's · Burrow-Giles Lithographic Co. v. Sarony · Loan Association v. Topeka
Cited together with J. W. Hampton, Jr., & Co. v. United States · Panama Refining Co. v. Ryan · United States v. Grimaud · Ala Schechter Poultry Corporation v. United States · Buttfield v. Stranahan
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 1,514 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.
“The true distinction ... is between the delegation of power to make the law, which necessarily involves a discretion as to what it shall be, and conferring authority or discretion as to its execution, to be exercised under and in pursuance of the law. The first cannot be done; to the latter no valid objection can be made.”
65 later decisions quote this exact passage · from the majority“its authentication as a bill that has passed Congress should be deemed complete and unimpeachable.”
20 later decisions quote this exact passage · from the majority“[j]udicial action based upon such a suggestion is forbidden by the respect due to a coordinate branch of the government.”
13 later decisions 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.