Wilbur v. United States ex rel. Kadrie’s Empirical Analysis
281 U.S. 206 · 1930
Citation profile
223 federal appellate · 128 district · 36 state decisions
How this case has been cited
Cited by 593 later decisions (27 by the Supreme Court) — most recently July 2025 · most notably United States v. Mead Corp. (2001), Virginian Ry Co v. System Federation No 40 (1937)
223 federal appellate · 128 district · 36 state decisions — followed in 14 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.
Appellate journey
reviewedthe decision below (from District of Columbia Circuit Court of Appeals)
Relationships
Relies on Noble v. Union River Logging Railroad · Tiger v. Western Investment Co. · Knight v. United Land Ass'n · Work v. United States Rives
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 593 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.
““Mandamus is employed to compel the performance, when refused, of a ministerial duty, this being its chief use. It also is employed to compel action, when refused, in matters involving judgment and discretion, but not to direct the exercise of judgment or discretion in a particular way nor to direct the retraction or reversal of action already taken in the exercise of either.” (Emphasis ours.)”
13 later decisions quote this exact passage · from the majority“From what has been said it follows that the case is not one in which mandamus will lie.”
1 later decision 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.