Spector Motor Service, Inc. v. McLaughlin’s Empirical Analysis
323 U.S. 101 · 1944
Citation profile
586 federal appellate · 189 district · 142 state decisions
How this case has been cited
Cited by 1,554 later decisions (167 by the Supreme Court) — most recently June 2026 · most notably Pearson v. Callahan (2009), City of Cleburne Texas v. Cleburne Living Center (1985)
586 federal appellate · 189 district · 142 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.
Appellate journey
reviewedSpector Motor Service, Inc. v. Walsh (from Second Circuit Court of Appeals)
Relationships
Relies on Railroad Commission v. Pullman Co. · Burford v. Sun Oil Co. · Meredith v. City of Winter Haven · Great Lakes Dredge & Dock Co. v. Huffman
Cited together with Railroad Commission v. Pullman Co. · Chicago v. Fieldcrest Dairies, Inc. · Ashwander v. Tennessee Valley Authority · American Federation of Labor v. Watson · Burford v. Sun Oil Co.
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 1,554 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.
“If there is one doctrine more deeply rooted than any other in the process of constitutional adjudication, it is that we ought not to pass on questions of constitutionality ... unless such adjudication is unavoidable.”
67 later decisions quote this exact passage · from the majority“"It was conceded below that if the Connecticut tax was construed to cover petitioner it would run afoul the Commerce Clause, were this Court to adhere to what Judge Learned Hand called `an unbroken line of decisions.' On the basis of what it deemed foreshadowing `trends', the majority ventured the prophecy that this Court would change its course, and accordingly sustained the tax. In view of the far-reaching import of such a disposition by the Circuit Court of Appeals we brought the case here."”
1 later decision quote this exact passage · from the majority“with directions to retain the bill pending the determination of proceedings to be brought with reasonable promptitude in the State court in conformity with this opinion.”
1 later decision quote this exact passage · from the majoritye.g. Garrett v. Bamford
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.