Metcalf & Eddy v. Mitchell’s Empirical Analysis
269 U.S. 514 · 1926
Citation profile
264 federal appellate · 54 district · 159 state decisions
How this case has been cited
Cited by 913 later decisions (165 by the Supreme Court) — most recently June 2023 · most notably United States v. American Trucking Associations (1940), National League of Cities v. Usery (1976)
264 federal appellate · 54 district · 159 state decisions — followed in 35 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 · Eisner v. Macomber · Osborn v. President Directors and Company of the Bank of the United States · Flint v. Stone Tracy Co. · Brushaber v. Union Pacific Railroad
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 913 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.
“neither government may destroy the other nor curtail in any substantial manner the exercise of its powers.”
12 later decisions quote this exact passage · from the majority“* * * In each instance the performance of their contract involved the use of judgment and discretion on their part and they were required to use their best professional skill to bring about the desired result. This permitted to them liberty of action which excludes the idea that control or right of control by the employer which characterizes the relation of employer and employee and differentiates the employee or servant from the independent contractor. * * *”
10 later decisions quote this exact passage · from the majority““ * * * it is apparent that not every person who uses his property or derives a profit, in his dealings with the government, may clothe himself with immunity from taxation on the theory that either he or his property is an instrumentality of government within the meaning of the rule. [Citations omitted.] “As cases arise, lying between the two extremes, it becomes necessary to draw the line which separates those activities having some relation to government, which are nevertheless subject to taxation, from those which are immune. Experience has shown that there is no •formula by which that line may be plotted with precision in advance. But recourse may be had to the reason upon which the rule rests, and which must be the guiding principle to control its operation.””
8 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.