Olmstead v. United States’s Empirical Analysis
277 U.S. 438 · 1928
Citation profile
1,284 federal appellate · 252 district · 1,294 state decisions
How this case has been cited
Cited by 3,976 later decisions (369 by the Supreme Court) — most recently June 2026 · most notably Miranda v. State of Arizona Vignera (1966), Katz v. United States (1967)
1,284 federal appellate · 252 district · 1,294 state decisions — followed in 50 states
Later decisions citing this case, by decade. A case is still cited after being overruled — to note the reversal, distinguish it, or in dissent. 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.
Appellate journey
reviewedOlmstead v. United States (from Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals)
Relationships
Relies on Carroll v. United States · Boyd v. United States · Weeks v. United States · Village of Euclid Ohio v. Ambler Realty Co · William Marbury v. James Madison
Cited together with Katz v. United States · Mapp v. Ohio · Goldman v. United States · Boyd v. United States · Weeks v. United States
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 3,976 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.
“The greatest dangers to liberty lurk in insidious encroachment by men of zeal, well-meaning but without understanding.”
270 later decisions quote this exact passage · from the dissent““ * * * apart from the Constitution the government ought not to use evidence obtained and only obtainable by a criminal act. * * * ””
30 later decisions quote this exact passage · from the majority“The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.”
18 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.