Stromberg v. People of State of California’s Empirical Analysis
283 U.S. 359 · 1931
Citation profile
751 federal appellate · 90 district · 679 state decisions
How this case has been cited
Cited by 2,440 later decisions (411 by the Supreme Court) — most recently April 2025 · most notably Chapman v. State of California (1967), New York Times Co. v. Sullivan (1964)
751 federal appellate · 90 district · 679 state decisions — followed in 47 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.
Relationships
Relies on Whitney v. People of State of California · Gitlow v. People of the State of New York · Fiske v. State of Kansas · Prudential Ins Co of America v. Cheek
Cited together with Yates v. United States · Thornhill v. Alabama · Cantwell v. State of Connecticut · New York Times Co. v. Sullivan · De Jonge v. Oregon
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 2,440 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.
“The maintenance of the opportunity for free political discussion to the end that government may be responsive to the will of the people and that changes may be obtained by lawful means, an opportunity essential to the security of the Republic, is a fundamental principle of our constitutional system.”
27 later decisions quote this exact passage · from the majority“[I]f any of the clauses in question is invalid under the Federal Constitution, the conviction cannot be upheld.”
22 later decisions quote this exact passage · from the majority“as a sign, symbol or emblem of opposition to organized government.”
6 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.