O'Brien v. United States’s Empirical Analysis

Citation profile

5 federal appellate ·

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 21 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.

1. “Apparently, plaintiff believes that his bureaucratic superior denied him the opportunity to make a personal appeal when he delegated to a subordinate the task of hearing plaintiff’s oral presentation. We cannot agree. No decision of this court has suggested what form the personal interview at the agency level ought to take, except to indicate that there is no right to an adversary type hearing at this stage. Certainly, anything that the plaintiff might have presented to the Assistant Attorney General he could have presented to his assistant who prepared an extensive memorandum following the interview. It is true that this delegate did not have the power to hire and fire the plaintiff, but neither did the Assistant Attorney General. He merely made his recommendations to the Deputy Attorney General after having considered, we must presume, any material which plaintiff had presented at the personal interview. We believe that the procedure followed with respect to the agency hearing was in full compliance with the statute. We do not think that the statute guarantees a veteran an interview with any particular official as long as he is given the opportunity to present such appeals as he may wish to make to a superior who has the authority to either recommend or take final action. (Citation omitted.)”

   2 later decisions quote this exact passage
   e.g. Polcover v. Secretary of Treasury · Putschoegl v. United States