Bowie v. Murphy’s Empirical Analysis
2006
Citation profile
2 federal appellate · 17 state decisions
Relationships
Relies on Serbian Eastern Orthodox Diocese for United States and Canada v. Milivojevich · Presbyterian Church in US v. Mary Elizabeth Blue Hull Memorial Presbyterian Church · Jones v. Wolf · Rayburn v. General Conference of Seventh-day Adventists · Thompson Ex Rel. Thompson v. Skate America, Inc.
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 19 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.
“religion or the duty which we owe to our Creator, and the manner of discharging it, can be directed only by reason and conviction, not by force or violence; and, therefore, all men are equally entitled to the free exercise of religion, according to the dictates of conscience.”
1 later decision quote this exact passage“As a general rule, courts lack subject matter jurisdiction to resolve issues of church governance and disputes over religious doctrine. This prohibition arises from the religion clauses of the Constitution of the United States and the Constitution of Virginia.”
1 later decision quote this exact passage“[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.”
1 later decision 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.