O'Malley v. Woodrough’s Empirical Analysis
307 U.S. 277 · 1939
Citation profile
57 federal appellate · 3 district · 31 state decisions
How this case has been cited
Cited by 194 later decisions (23 by the Supreme Court) — most recently January 2023 · most notably Smith v. Allwright (1944), Glidden Company v. Zdanok Lurk (1962)
57 federal appellate · 3 district · 31 state decisions — followed in 11 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 M'Culloch v. State of Maryland · Graves v. People of State of New York O'Keefe · Pollock v. Farmers' Loan & Trust Co. · McCray v. United States · Pollock v. Farmers' Loan & Trust 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 194 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.
“judges are also citizens, and their particular function in government does not generate an immunity from sharing with their fellow citizens the material burden of the government whose Constitution and laws they are charged with administering.”
5 later decisions quote this exact passage · from the majority““* * * ‘Without this provision [prohibiting diminution of the compensation of a judge during his continuance in office], the other, as to the tenure of office, would have been utterly nugatory, and indeed a mere mockery * * *’ 2 Story, § 1628. Chancellor Kent said: ‘The provision for the permanent support of the judges is well calculated, in addition to the tenure of their office, to give them the requisite independence. It tends, also, to secure a succession of learned men on the bench, who, in consequence of a certain undiminished support, are enabled and induced to quit the lucrative pursuits of private business for the duties of that important station. The Constitution of the United States, on this subject, was an improvement upon all our previously existing constitutions.’ 1 Kent Com. 294.””
2 later decisions quote this exact passage · from the dissent“* * * Congress has committed itself to tbe position that a non-discriminatory tax laid generally on net income, is not, when applied to tbe income of a federal judge, a diminution of bis salary within tbe prohibition of Article III, § 1 of the Constitution. * * *”
2 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.