United States v. Standard Oil Co.’s Empirical Analysis
332 U.S. 301 · 1947
Citation profile
600 federal appellate · 124 district · 87 state decisions
How this case has been cited
Cited by 1,282 later decisions (76 by the Supreme Court) — most recently April 2026 · most notably Bivens v. Six Unknown Named Agents of Federal Bureau of Narcotics (1971), Securities and Exchange Commission v. Chenery Corporation Same (1947)
600 federal appellate · 124 district · 87 state decisions — followed in 23 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
reviewedStandard Oil Co. v. United States (from Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals)
Relationships
Relies on Erie Co v. Tompkins · D'Oench, Duhme & Co. v. Federal Deposit Insurance · Holmberg v. Armbrecht · Clearfield Trust Co. v. United States · Blair v. Commissioner
Cited together with Clearfield Trust Co. v. United States · Erie Co v. Tompkins · Feres v. United States · United States 77-1359 v. Kimbell Foods Inc · United States v. Allegheny County Pa
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 1,282 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.
“[w]hether to adopt state law or to fashion a nationwide federal rule is a matter of judicial policy 'dependent upon a variety of considerations always relevant to the nature of the specific governmental interests and to the effects upon them of applying state law.'”
22 later decisions quote this exact passage · from the majority“`In our choice of the applicable federal rule we have occasionally selected state law.' Clearfield Trust Co. v. United States, 318 U.S. at page 367, 63 S.Ct. at page 575, 87 L.Ed. 838. The Government, for instance, may place itself in a position where its rights necessarily are determinable by state law, as when it purchases real estate from one whose title is invalid by that law in relation to another's claim. Cf. United States v. Fox, 94 U.S. 315 , 24 L.Ed. 192. In other situations it may fairly be taken that Congress has consented to the application of state law, when acting partially in relation to federal interests and functions, through failure to make other provision concerning matters ordinarily so governed. And in still others state law may furnish convenient solutions in no way inconsistent with adequate protection of the federal interest.”
10 later decisions quote this exact passage · from the majority“[t]o whatever extent state law may apply to govern the relations between soldiers or others in the armed forces and persons outside them or nonfederal governmental agencies, the scope, nature, legal incidents and consequences of the relation between persons in service and the Government are fundamentally derived from federal sources and governed by federal authority. [Id. at 305-06, 67 S.Ct. at 1607 .]”
8 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.