Walker v. Johnston’s Empirical Analysis
312 U.S. 275 · 1941
Citation profile
806 federal appellate · 92 district · 224 state decisions
How this case has been cited
Cited by 1,567 later decisions (118 by the Supreme Court) — most recently June 2026 · most notably Townsend v. Sain (1963), Brady v. United States (1970)
806 federal appellate · 92 district · 224 state decisions — followed in 30 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.
Appellate journey
reviewedWalker v. Johnston (from Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals)
Relationships
Applies 28 U.S.C. § 451 · 28 U.S.C. § 454 · 28 U.S.C. § 455 · 28 U.S.C. § 457 · 28 U.S.C. § 458 · 28 U.S.C. § 459 · 28 U.S.C. § 460 · 28 U.S.C. § 461
Relies on Johnson v. Zerbst · Mooney v. Holohan · 'The Ku-Klux Cases' Yarbrough · Sanders v. Allen
Cited together with Johnson v. Zerbst · Waley v. Johnston · MacHibroda v. United States · Townsend v. Sain · United States v. Hayman
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 1,567 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.
““Not by the pleadings and the affidavits, but by the whole of the testimony, must it be determined whether the petitioner has carried his burden of proof and shown his right to a discharge. The Government’s contention that his allegations are improbable and unbelievable cannot serve to deny him an opportunity to support them by evidence. On this record it is his right to be heard.””
18 later decisions quote this exact passage · from the majority“Unless the application for the writ and the return present only issues of law the person to whom the writ is directed shall be required to produce at the hearing the body of the person detained.”
10 later decisions quote this exact passage · from the majority“The person making the return shall at the same time bring the body of the party before the judge who granted the writ.”
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.