Kelly v. State of Washington Foss Co’s Empirical Analysis
302 U.S. 1 · 1937
Citation profile
69 federal appellate · 24 district · 210 state decisions
How this case has been cited
Cited by 550 later decisions (124 by the Supreme Court) — most recently September 2021 · most notably Ker v. State of California (1963), Hines v. Davidowitz (1941)
69 federal appellate · 24 district · 210 state decisions — followed in 29 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 Gibbons v. Ogden · Simpson v. Shepard · Aaron Cooley v. The Board of Wardens of the Port of Philadelphia to the Use of the Society for the Relief of Distressed Pilots Their Widows and Children Same · Savage v. Jones · Napier v. Atlantic Coast Line Railroad
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 550 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.
“[t]he principle is thoroughly established that the exercise by the state of its police power, which would be valid if not superseded by federal action, is superseded only where the repugnance or conflict is so `direct and positive' that the two acts cannot `be reconciled or consistently stand together.'”
19 later decisions quote this exact passage · from the majority“The federal acts and regulations with respect to vessels on the navigable waters of the United States are elaborate.”
2 later decisions quote this exact passage · from the majority““More recently in Kelly v. State of Washington, 302 U.S. 1, 15 , 58 S.Ct. 87, 94 , 82 L.Ed. 3 , we have pointed out that when a state goes beyond safety measures which are permissible because only local in their effect upon interstate commerce, and ‘attempts to impose particular standards as to structure, design, equipment, and operation [of vessels plying interstate] which in the judgment of its authorities may be desirable but pass beyond what is plainly essential to safety and seaworthiness, the state will encounter the principle that such requirements, if imposed at all, must be through the action of Congress which can establish a uniform rule. Whether the state in a particular matter goes too far must be left to be determined when the precise question arises.’ ””
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.