American Telephone & Telegraph Co. v. United States’s Empirical Analysis
299 U.S. 232 · 1936
Citation profile
194 federal appellate · 25 district · 129 state decisions
How this case has been cited
Cited by 485 later decisions (58 by the Supreme Court) — most recently May 2026 · most notably Chevron U. S. A. Inc. v. Natural Resources Defense Council, Inc. (1984), Federal Power Commission v. Hope Natural Gas Co. (1944)
194 federal appellate · 25 district · 129 state decisions — followed in 19 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
Applies 28 U.S.C. § 47 · 47 U.S.C. § 151 · 47 U.S.C. § 402
Relies on United States v. Murdock · Nash v. United States · United States v. L. Cohen Grocery Co. · Lindheimer v. Illinois Bell Telephone Co. · Smith v. Illinois Bell Telephone 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 485 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.
“'so entirely at odds with fundamental principles of correct accounting' (citation omitted) as to be the expression of a whim rather than an exercise of judgment.”
17 later decisions quote this exact passage · from the majority“Sec. 220 (g). After the Commission has prescribed the forms and manner of keeping of accounts, records, and memoranda to be kept by any person as herein provided, it shall be unlawful for such person to keep any other accounts, records, or memoranda than those so prescribed or such as may be approved by the Commission or to keep the accounts in any other manner than that prescribed or approved by the Commission. Notice of alterations by the Commission in the required manner or form of keeping accounts shall be given to such persons by the Commission at least six months before the same are to take effect.”
1 later decision quote this exact passage · from the majority“(2) That when amounts included in account 100.4 are deemed, after a fair consideration of all the circumstances, to be definitely attributable to depreciable telephone plant, provision will be made for amortization of such amounts through operating expenses, through the medium of either account 613 (R. 186) or account 675 (R. 205). “The Commission believes that the foregoing construction of its order is that which it presented to the District Court through the affidavits of its witnesses.”
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.