Williams v. Fanning’s Empirical Analysis
332 U.S. 490 · 1947
Citation profile
357 federal appellate · 68 district · 7 state decisions
How this case has been cited
Cited by 698 later decisions (18 by the Supreme Court) — most recently July 2022 · most notably Larson v. Domestic & Foreign Commerce Corp. (1949), Harman v. Forssenius (1965)
357 federal appellate · 68 district · 7 state decisions
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 Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals)
Relationships
Applies 28 U.S.C. § 41
Relies on Land US v. Dollar · United States v. Lee · Webster v. Fall · Philadelphia Co. v. Stimson
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 698 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.
“* * * the superior officer is an indispensable party if the decree granting the relief sought will require him to take action, either by exercising directly a power lodged in him or by having a subordinate exercise it for him.”
17 later decisions quote this exact passage · from the majority“the decree which is entered will effectively grant the relief desired by expending itself on the subordinate official who is before the court.”
11 later decisions quote this exact passage · from the majority““It is he (the local postmaster) who refuses to pay money orders, who places the stamp ‘fraudulent' on the mail, who returns the mail to the senders. If he desists in those acts, the matter is at an end. That is all the relief which petitioners seek. The decree in order to be effective need not require the Postmaster General to do a single thing —he need not be required to take new action either directly as in the Smith and Fall cases or indirectly through his subordinate as in the Rutter case. No concurrence on his part is necessary to make lawful the payment of the money orders and the release of the mail unstamped. Yet that is all the court is asked to command.” (Emphasis added.) 332 U.S. 490, 494 , 68 S.Ct. 188, 189 .”
3 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.