Penfield Co of California v. Securities & Exchange Commission’s Empirical Analysis
330 U.S. 585 · 1947
Citation profile
204 federal appellate · 30 district · 162 state decisions
How this case has been cited
Cited by 637 later decisions (33 by the Supreme Court) — most recently September 2025 · most notably Shillitani v. United States (1966), McComb v. Jacksonville Paper Co. (1949)
204 federal appellate · 30 district · 162 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.
Appellate journey
reviewedSecurities & Exchange Commission v. Penfield Co. (from Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals)
Relationships
Relies on United States v. United Mine Workers of America · Gompers v. Bucks Stove & Range Co. · Oklahoma Press Pub Co v. Walling US News Printing Co · Nye v. United States · Interstate Commerce Commission v. Brimson
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 637 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.
“carry the keys of their prison in their own pockets.”
6 later decisions quote this exact passage · from the majority“solely and exclusively punitive in character.”
3 later decisions quote this exact passage · from the majority“Instead of authorizing agencies to enforce their subpoenas, Congress has required them to resort to the courts for enforcement. In the discharge of that duty courts act as courts and not as administrative adjuncts.”
2 later decisions quote this exact passage · from the dissent
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.