Cohens v. Virginia’s Empirical Analysis
19 U.S. 264 · 1821
Citation profile
470 federal appellate · 98 district · 248 state decisions
How this case has been cited
Cited by 1,496 later decisions (227 by the Supreme Court) — most recently June 2026 · most notably Miranda v. State of Arizona Vignera (1966), Ex Parte: Edward T Young (1908)
470 federal appellate · 98 district · 248 state decisions — followed in 44 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 M'Culloch v. State of Maryland · Cohens v. Virginia · Martin Fairfax v. Hunter's · Gelston v. Hoyt
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 1,496 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.
“[i]t is a maxim not to be disregarded, that general expressions, in every opinion, are to be taken in connection with the case in which those expressions are used.”
32 later decisions quote this exact passage · from the majority“We have no more right to decline the exercise of jurisdiction which is given, than to usurp that which is not given.”
24 later decisions quote this exact passage · from the majority“. . . A case in law or equity . . . may truly be said to arise under the constitution or a law of the United States, whenever its correct decision depends on the construction of either.”
3 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.