Lovell v. City of Griffin’s Empirical Analysis
303 U.S. 444 · 1938
Citation profile
540 federal appellate · 223 district · 760 state decisions
How this case has been cited
Cited by 2,446 later decisions (303 by the Supreme Court) — most recently May 2025 · most notably Gideon v. Wainwright (1963), New York Times Co. v. Sullivan (1964)
540 federal appellate · 223 district · 760 state decisions — followed in 45 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 Palko v. State of Connecticut · Near v. State of Minnesota Olson · Stromberg v. People of State of California · Reynolds v. States
Cited together with Schneider v. State · Hague v. Committee for Industrial Organization · Cantwell v. State of Connecticut · Thornhill v. Alabama · Cox v. State of New Hampshire
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 2,446 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.
“'[t]he press in its historic connotation comprehends every sort of publication which affords a vehicle of information and opinion.'”
60 later decisions quote this exact passage · from the majority“Congress shall make no law ... abridging the freedom of speech....”
22 later decisions quote this exact passage · from the majority“Section 1. All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside. No State shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.”
12 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.