United Public Workers of America v. Mitchell’s Empirical Analysis
330 U.S. 75 · 1947
Citation profile
1,065 federal appellate · 368 district · 385 state decisions
How this case has been cited
Cited by 3,048 later decisions (220 by the Supreme Court) — most recently June 2025 · most notably Warth v. Seldin (1975), Baker v. Carr (1962)
1,065 federal appellate · 368 district · 385 state decisions — followed in 39 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
reviewedthe decision below (from District of Columbia District Court)
Relationships
Relies on Ex Parte: Edward T Young · Aetna Life Ins Co of Hartford Conn v. Haworth · Cantwell v. State of Connecticut · Maryland Casualty Co. v. Pacific Coal & Oil Co. · Chaplinsky v. State of New Hampshire
Cited together with United States Civil Service Commission v. National Ass'n of Letter Carriers · Golden v. Zwickler · Pickering v. Board of Education of Township High School District 205 Will County Illinois · Aetna Life Ins Co of Hartford Conn v. Haworth · Broadrick v. Oklahoma
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 3,048 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.
“'[T]he federal courts established pursuant to Article III of the Constitution do not render advisory opinions. For adjudication of constitutional issues,”
66 later decisions quote this exact passage · from the majority“Congress may reasonably desire to limit party activity of federal employees so as to avoid a tendency toward a one-party system.”
11 later decisions quote this exact passage · from the majority“Quoting from Mitchell: “Congress and the President are responsible for an efficient public service. If, in their judgment efficiency may be best obtained by prohibiting' active participation by classified employees in politics as party officers or workers, we [the Supreme Court] see no constitutional objection.””
10 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.