Gregoire v. Biddle’s Empirical Analysis
177 F.2d 579 · 1949
Citation profile
374 federal appellate · 61 district · 168 state decisions
How this case has been cited
Cited by 849 later decisions (25 by the Supreme Court) — most recently June 2025 · most notably Harlow v. Fitzgerald (1982), New York Times Co. v. Sullivan (1964)
374 federal appellate · 61 district · 168 state decisions — followed in 42 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 Bradley v. Fisher · Spalding v. Vilas · Yaselli v. Goff · Yaselli v. Goff · Alzua v. Johnson
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 849 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.
“As is so often the case, the answer must be found in a balance between the evils inevitable in either alternative. In this instance it has been thought in the end better to leave unredressed the wrongs done by dishonest officers than to subject those who try to do their duty to the constant dread of retaliation.”
223 later decisions quote this exact passage · from the majority“[A] special assistant to the Attorney General of the United States, in the performance of the duties imposed upon him by law, is immune from a civil action for malicious prosecution based on an indictment and prosecution, although it results in a verdict of not guilty rendered by a jury. The immunity is absolute, and is grounded on principles of public policy. The public interest requires that persons occupying such important positions and so closely identified with the judicial departments of the government should speak and act freely and fearlessly in the discharge of their important official functions. They should be no more liable to private suits for what they say and do in the discharge of their duties than are the judges and jurors, to say nothing of the witnesses who testify in a case.”
3 later decisions quote this exact passage“held that the defendants had an absolute immunity from liability, even though their unlawful acts had been induced only by personal ill-will....”
2 later decisions quote this exact passage
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.