Ex parte Williams’s Empirical Analysis
277 U.S. 267 · 1928
Citation profile
39 federal appellate · 19 district · 4 state decisions
How this case has been cited
Cited by 122 later decisions (32 by the Supreme Court) — most recently April 2012 · most notably Joint Anti-Fascist Refugee Committee v. McGrath (1951), Perkins v. Lukens Steel Co. (1940)
39 federal appellate · 19 district · 4 state decisions
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 Prentis v. Atlantic Coast Line Co. · Bluefield Water Works & Improvement Co. v. Public Service Commission · Keller v. Potomac Electric Power Co. · United States v. Los Angeles & Salt Lake Railroad · Oklahoma Natural Gas Co. v. Russell
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 122 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.
““A case does not fall within section 266 [ 28 U.S.C.A. § 380 ], unless a statute or' an order of an administrative board or commission is challenged as contrary to the Federal Constitution. Oklahoma Gas Co. v. Russell, 261 U.S. 290 , 43 S.Ct. 353 , 67 L.Ed. 659 ; Ex parte Buder, 271 U.S. 461, 465 , 46 S.Ct. 557 , 70 L.Ed. 1036 . Here, there was no question as to the validity of the taxing statute. It.was the assessment which the railroad challenged. And an assessment is not an order made by an administrative board or commission, within the meaning of that section. The function of an assessing board is not that of issuing 'orders. - Its function is informational. Its duty is to make findings of fact, and thereby furnish the basis on which other officials are to act in individual instances in levying and collecting the taxes.' An assessment does not command the taxpayer to do, or to refrain from doing anything; does not grant or withhold any privilege, authority, or license; does not extend or abridge any power or facility; does not determine any right or obligation. Compare Standard Computing Scale Co. v. Farrell, 249 U.S. 571, 577 , 39 S.Ct. 380 , 63 L.Ed. 780 ; Pennsylvania R. R. Co. v. United States Railroad Labor Board, 261 U.S. 72 , 43 S.Ct. 278 , 67 L.Ed. 536 ; United States v. Los Angeles & Salt Lake R. R. Co., 273 U.S. 299, 310 , 47 S.Ct. 413 , 71 L.Ed. 651 ; Southern Bell Telephone & Telegraph Co. v. Railroad Commission (D.C.) 280 F. 901 . An assessment is directed by”
2 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.