Crooks v. Harrelson’s Empirical Analysis
282 U.S. 55 · 1930
Citation profile
519 federal appellate · 84 district · 79 state decisions
How this case has been cited
Cited by 1,196 later decisions (75 by the Supreme Court) — most recently March 2025 · most notably United States v. American Trucking Associations (1940), Tennessee Valley Authority v. Hill (1978)
519 federal appellate · 84 district · 79 state decisions — followed in 22 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 Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals)
Relationships
Relies on Rector Etc of Holy Trinity Church v. United States · United States v. Merriam · Pirie v. Chicago Title & Trust Co. · United States v. Field
Cited together with Tennessee Valley Authority v. Hill · Rector Etc of Holy Trinity Church v. United States · Caminetti v. United States · United States v. American Trucking Associations · Griffin v. Oceanic Contractors, 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 1,196 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.
“Laws enacted with good intention, when put to the test, frequently, and to the surprise of the law maker himself, turn out to be mischievous, absurd or otherwise objectionable. But in such case the remedy lies with the law making authority, and not with the courts.”
50 later decisions quote this exact passage · from the majority““Sec. 302. The value of the gross estate of the decedent shall be determined by including the value at the time of his death of all property, real or personal, tangible or intangible, wherever situated— “(a) To the extent of the interest therein of the decedent at the time of his death which after his death is subject to the payment of the charges against his estate and the expenses of its administration [italics supplied] and is subject to distribution as part of his estate. * * * ” 43 Stat. 304 .”
8 later decisions quote this exact passage · from the majority“[I]n statutes levying taxes the literal meaning of the words employed is most important for such statutes are not to be extended by implication beyond the clear import of the language used.”
3 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.