Reid v. Gholson’s Empirical Analysis

Citation profile

2 federal appellate · 31 state decisions

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 37 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.

1. ““They are free to adopt constitutions, by-laws, and internal rules which will alter or regulate their proceedings, but even these must be enacted by majority vote. And in the absence of such voluntarily-adopted rules, each such congregation functions as a pure democracy. When the majority has spoken in a fairly-conducted congregational meeting held after proper notice to the membership, then the governing body of the church has expressed its will and, as in the case of an hierarchical church, its decision is constitutionally immune from judicial review. “The situation is otherwise, however, when the members of a congregational church merely seek the protection of the court for the purpose of obtaining a fairly-conducted meeting in the first place. Here the analogy to hierarchical churches breaks down because there is no body of ecclesiastical law to invoke, no internal tribunal to appeal to. A member of a congregational church, seeking the aid of the court in protecting his civil and property rights, may appeal only to the simple and fundamental principles of democratic government which are universally accepted in our society. These principles include the right to reasonable notice, the right to attend and advocate one’s views, and the right to an honest count of the votes. Such rights are fundamental to our notions of due process. They are neutral principles of law, applicable not only to religious bodies, but to public and private lay organizations and to civil governments ”

   3 later decisions quote this exact passage
   e.g. Kennedy v. Gray · Bridgeforth v. Thornton

2. “[W]here church property and civil rights disputes can be decided without reference to questions of faith and doctrine, there is no constitutional prohibition against their resolution by the civil courts.”

   2 later decisions quote this exact passage
   e.g. Bowie v. Murphy · Pure Presbyterian Church of Wash. v. Grace of God Presbyterian Church

3. “The constitutional guarantees of religious freedom have no deeper roots than in Virginia, where they originated, and nowhere have they been more scrupulously observed. These principles prohibit the civil courts from resolving ecclesiastical disputes which depend upon inquiry into questions of faith or doctrine. Presbyterian Church v. Hull Church, 393 U.S. 440 (1969). The courts have, however, frequently been called upon to resolve disputes concerning the civil and property rights of religious bodies and church members. In such cases, there is a danger that the power of the state may be called upon to aid a faction espousing a particular doctrinal belief, or to “become entangled in essentially religious controversies.” Serbian Eastern Orthodox Diocese, etc. v. Milivojevich, 426 U.S. 696, 709 (1976). For this reason, “the First Amendment severely circumscribes the role that civil courts may play in resolving church property disputes.” Presbyterian Church v. Hull Church, 393 U.S. at 449 . The threshold inquiry for a court asked to resolve such a dispute must be whether its resolution will project the fact-finder into what the Supreme Court, in Serbian Eastern Orthodox Diocese, aptly called a “religious thicket.” 426 U.S. at 719 . But where church property and civil rights disputes can be decided without reference to questions of faith and doctrine, there is no constitutional prohibition against their resolution by the civil courts. Jones v. Wolf, 443 U.S. 595 (1979); Maryland & ”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage
   e.g. Krebs v. Keating