Sra v. State of Minnesota’s Empirical Analysis
327 U.S. 558 · 1946
Citation profile
152 federal appellate · 31 district · 173 state decisions
How this case has been cited
Cited by 460 later decisions (20 by the Supreme Court) — most recently January 2020 · most notably South Carolina v. Regan (1984), Kern-Limerick, Inc. v. Scurlock (1954)
152 federal appellate · 31 district · 173 state decisions — followed in 27 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 M'Culloch v. State of Maryland · Lynch v. United States · United States v. Allegheny County Pa · James v. Dravo Contracting Co. · Bowen v. Johnston
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 460 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.
“retains only a legal title as security. In substance [the seller] is in the position of a mortgagee.”
12 later decisions quote this exact passage · from the majority““As the purpose of Clause 17 was to give control over the sites of governmental operations to the United States, when such control was deemed essential for federal activities, it would seem that the sovereignty of the United States would end with the reason for its existence and the disposition of the property. We shall treat this case as though the Government’s unrestricted transfer of property to nonfederal hands is a relinquishment of the exclusive legislative power. Recognition has been given to this result as a rule of necessity. If such a step is necessary, Minnesota showed its acceptance of a supposed retrocession by its levy of a tax on the property.””
3 later decisions quote this exact passage · from the majority“because of the importance and uncertainty of the question of the right of a state to tax realty sold by the United States in possession of a buyer from the government under a contract of sale with uncompleted conditions for execution and delivery of the muniments of title.”
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.