Flynn v. Giarrusso’s Empirical Analysis
1971
Citation profile
11 federal appellate · 5 district · 13 state decisions
How this case has been cited
Cited by 39 later decisions (1 by the Supreme Court) — most recently June 2000 · most notably Parker v. Levy (1974), Waters v. Chaffin (1982)
11 federal appellate · 5 district · 13 state decisions
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
Applies 28 U.S.C. § 1343 · 42 U.S.C. § 1983 (Civil Rights Act of 1871 / Section 1983 (Ku Klux Klan Act))
Relies on New York Times Co. v. Sullivan · Pickering v. Board of Education of Township High School District 205 Will County Illinois · Connally v. General Construction Co. · National Association for Advancement of Colored People v. Y Button · Hague v. Committee for Industrial Organization
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 39 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.
“'member shall not unjustly criticize or ridicule, or express hatred or contempt toward, or indulge in remarks which may be detrimental to . . . any person.' " Id. at 1299. The court in Flynn "fail(ed) to see what possible legitimate interest the . . . Police Department can have to warrant such a sweeping prohibition on the speech of its members.”
2 later decisions quote this exact passage · from the majority“Security of Operations—The operations of the Department shall be conducted in a confidential manner. A member shall not impart to any person the content of any official instruction, policy, or record, or the conduct of departmental functions; except in performance of duty as directed by a superior officer, or under due process of law.”
2 later decisions quote this exact passage · from the majority“'(e)ngaging in any activity, conversation, deliberation, or discussion which is derogatory to the Department or any member or policy of the Department'”
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.