Follett v. Town of McCormick’s Empirical Analysis
321 U.S. 573 · 1944
Citation profile
70 federal appellate · 24 district · 135 state decisions
How this case has been cited
Cited by 381 later decisions (57 by the Supreme Court) — most recently March 2022 · most notably McGowan v. State of Maryland Gallagher (1961), Sherbert v. Verner (1963)
70 federal appellate · 24 district · 135 state decisions — followed in 24 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 Near v. State of Minnesota Olson · Murdock v. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania · Grosjean v. American Press Co. · Jones v. City of Opelika Bowden
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 381 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.
“[t]he exaction of a tax as a condition to the exercise of the great liberties guaranteed by the First Amendments is as obnoxious as the imposition of a censorship or a previous restraint.”
8 later decisions quote this exact passage · from the majority“The power to tax the exercise of a privilege is the power to control or suppress its enjoyment. Those who can tax the exercise of this religious practice can make its exercise so costly as to deprive it of the resources necessary for its maintenance. Those who can tax the privilege of engaging in this form of missionary evangelism can close its doors to all those who do not have a full purse. Spreading religious beliefs in this ancient and honorable manner would thus be denied the needy.... It is contended, however, that the fact that the license tax can suppress or control this activity is unimportant if it does not do so. But that is to disregard the nature of this tax. It is a license tax — a flat tax imposed on the exercise of a privilege granted by the Bill of Rights. A state may not impose a charge for the enjoyment of a right granted by the federal constitution.”
4 later decisions quote this exact passage · from the majority“It is whether a flat license tax as applied to one who earns his livelihood as an evangelist or preacher in his home town is constitutional.”
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.