Lytle v. Doyle’s Empirical Analysis
326 F.3d 463 · 2003
Citation profile
6 federal appellate · 3 district ·
How this case has been cited
Cited by 47 later decisions — most recently June 2025 · most notably Faustin v. City of Denver (2005), Manning v. Caldwell for City of Roanoke (2019)
6 federal appellate · 3 district ·
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 42 U.S.C. § 1983 (Civil Rights Act of 1871 / Section 1983 (Ku Klux Klan Act))
Relies on City of Canton v. Harris · Grayned v. City of Rockford · Board of the County Commissioners of Bryan County v. Brown · Ward v. Rock Against Racism · City of St. Louis v. Praprotnik
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 47 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.
“(1) though and express policy, such as a written ordinance or regulation; (2) through the decisions of a person with final policymaking authority; (3) through an omission, such as a failure to properly train officers, that “manifests deliberate indifference to the rights of citizens”; or (4) through a practice that is so “persistent and widespread” as to constitute a “custom or usage with the force of law.””
13 later decisions quote this exact passage · from the majoritye.g. Safford v. Barnes · Oliver v. Baity““Policy” in this context implies most obviously and narrowly a “course of action consciously chosen from among various alternatives” respecting basic governmental functions, as opposed to episodic exercises of discretion in the operational details of government. Correspondingly, “policymaking authority” implies authority to set and implement general goals and programs of municipal government, as opposed to discretionary authority in purely operational aspects of government.”
1 later decision quote this exact passage · from the majority“Congress included customs and usages [in § 1983 ] because of the persistent and widespread discriminatory practices of state officials ... Although not authorized by written law, such practices could well be so permanent and well settled as to constitute 'custom or usage' with the force of law.”
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.