United States v. Swift & Co.’s Empirical Analysis
286 U.S. 106 · 1932
Citation profile
1,107 federal appellate · 310 district · 244 state decisions
How this case has been cited
Cited by 2,820 later decisions (97 by the Supreme Court) — most recently March 2025 · most notably Dombrowski v. Pfister (1965), Brown Shoe Co. v. United States (1962)
1,107 federal appellate · 310 district · 244 state decisions — followed in 39 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 Swift & Co. v. United States · United States v. United States Steel Corp. · Shields v. United States · Burnet v. Coronado Oil & Gas Co.
Cited together with System Federation No. 91 v. Wright · United States v. United Shoe MacHinery Corp. · Rufo v. Inmates of Suffolk County Jail · United States v. Armour & Co. · United States v. ITT Continental Baking Co.
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 2,820 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.
“Nothing less than a clear showing of grievous wrong evoked by new and unforeseen conditions should lead us to change what was decreed after years of litigation with the consent of all concerned.”
226 later decisions quote this exact passage · from the majority“and to adapt its restraints to the needs of a new day.”
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.