Great Lakes Dredge & Dock Co. v. Huffman’s Empirical Analysis
319 U.S. 293 · 1943
Citation profile
614 federal appellate · 187 district · 77 state decisions
How this case has been cited
Cited by 1,595 later decisions (120 by the Supreme Court) — most recently June 2025 · most notably Colorado River Water Conservation District v. United States (1976), Steffel v. Thompson (1974)
614 federal appellate · 187 district · 77 state decisions — followed in 15 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
reviewedGreat Lakes Dredge & Dock Co. v. Charlet (from Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals)
Relationships
Applies 28 U.S.C. § 41
Relies on Aetna Life Ins Co of Hartford Conn v. Haworth · Brillhart v. Excess Insurance Co. of America · Virginian Ry Co v. System Federation No 40 · Southern Pacific Co. v. Jensen · Carmichael v. Southern Coal & Coke Co.
Cited together with Matthews v. Rodgers · Fair Assessment in Real Estate Assn., Inc. v. McNary · Rosewell v. National Bank · Public Serv. Comm'n of Utah v. Wycoff Co. · Younger v. Harris
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 1,595 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.
“[T]he federal courts, in the exercise of the sound discretion which has traditionally guided courts of equity in granting or withholding the extraordinary relief which they may afford, will not ordinarily restrain state officers from collecting state taxes where state law affords an adequate remedy to the taxpayer.”
50 later decisions quote this exact passage · from the majority“[I]t is the court's duty to withhold such relief when, as in the present case, it appears that the state legislature has provided that on payment of any challenged tax to the appropriate state officer, the taxpayer may maintain a suit to recover it back. In such a suit he may assert his federal rights and secure a review of them by this court. This affords an adequate remedy to the taxpayer, and at the same time leaves undisturbed the state's administration of its taxes.”
26 later decisions quote this exact passage · from the majority“procedure may in every practical sense operate to suspend collection of the state taxes until the litigation is ended,”
22 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.