Gray v. Powell’s Empirical Analysis
314 U.S. 402 · 1941
Citation profile
424 federal appellate · 89 district · 67 state decisions
How this case has been cited
Cited by 917 later decisions (83 by the Supreme Court) — most recently July 2025 · most notably Udall v. Tallman (1965), Food & Drug Administration v. Brown & Williamson Tobacco Corp. (2000)
424 federal appellate · 89 district · 67 state decisions — followed in 21 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
reviewedPowell v. Gray (from Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals)
Relationships
Applies 15 U.S.C. § 828
Relies on Phelps Dodge Corporation v. National Labor Relations Board · Ala Schechter Poultry Corporation v. United States · Helvering v. Clifford · United States v. Darby · Higgins v. Smith
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 917 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.
“absorb the administrative functions to such an extent that the executive or legislative agencies become mere fact-finding bodies deprived of the advantages of prompt and definite action.”
5 later decisions quote this exact passage · from the majority“choice of disregarding deliberately chosen arrangements for conducting business affairs does not lie with the creator of the plan.”
3 later decisions quote this exact passage · from the majority“The separation of production and consumption is complete when a buyer obtains supplies from a seller totally free from buyer connection. Their identity is undoubted when the consumer extracts coal from its own land with its own employees. Between the two extremes are the innumerable variations that bring the arrangements closer to one pole or the other of the range between exemption and inclusion. To determine upon which side of the median line the particular instance falls calls for the expert, experienced judgment of those familiar with the industry.”
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.