Powell v. State of Alabama Patterson’s Empirical Analysis
287 U.S. 45 · 1932
Citation profile
2,628 federal appellate · 333 district · 4,322 state decisions
How this case has been cited
Cited by 9,386 later decisions (426 by the Supreme Court) — most recently March 2026 · most notably Strickland v. Washington (1984), Glasser v. United States (1942)
2,628 federal appellate · 333 district · 4,322 state decisions — followed in 50 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 Near v. State of Minnesota Olson · Hurtado v. People of the State of California · Stromberg v. People of State of California · Chicago Co v. City of Chicago
Cited together with Gideon v. Wainwright · Johnson v. Zerbst · Glasser v. United States · Avery v. State of Alabama · Hamilton v. Alabama
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 9,386 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.
“[i]n all criminal prosecutions, the accused shall enjoy the right ... to have the Assistance of Counsel for his defence.”
394 later decisions quote this exact passage · from the majoritye.g. Johnson v. Zerbst · Betts v. Brady“is not discharged by an assignment at such a time or under such circumstances as to preclude the giving of effective aid in the preparation and trial of the case.”
49 later decisions quote this exact passage · from the majoritye.g. Betts v. Brady · Williams v. Kaiser“Attorneys are officers of the court, and are bound to render service when required by such an appointment.”
13 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.