Lincoln Federal Labor Union No 19129 American Federation of Labor v. Northwestern Iron & Metal Co Whitaker’s Empirical Analysis
335 U.S. 525 · 1949
Citation profile
79 federal appellate · 25 district · 193 state decisions
How this case has been cited
Cited by 508 later decisions (67 by the Supreme Court) — most recently January 2025 · most notably Griswold v. State of Connecticut (1965), Williamson v. Lee Optical of Oklahoma, Inc. (1955)
79 federal appellate · 25 district · 193 state decisions — followed in 31 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 West Virginia State Board of Education v. Barnette · Nebbia v. People of State of New York · Phelps Dodge Corporation v. National Labor Relations Board · Home Building & Loan Ass'n v. Blaisdell · United States v. Darby
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 508 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.
“do[es] not run afoul of some specific federal constitutional prohibition, or of some valid federal law.”
7 later decisions quote this exact passage · from the majority“There cannot be wrung from a constitutional right of workers to assemble to discuss improvement of their own working standards, a further constitutional right to drive from remunerative employment all other persons who will not or can not, participate in union assemblies. The constitutional right of workers to assemble, to discuss and formulate plans for furthering their own self interest in jobs cannot be construed as a constitutional guarantee that none shall get and hold jobs except those who will join in the assembly or will agree to abide by the assembly's plans. For where conduct affects the interests of other individuals and the general public, the legality of that conduct must be measured by whether the conduct conforms to valid law, even though the conduct is engaged in pursuant to plans of an assembly.”
3 later decisions quote this exact passage · from the majoritye.g. Sweeney v. Pence · 4 Fair empl.prac.cas. 719, 4 Empl. Prac. Dec. P 7790 United States of America v. International Longshoremen's Association, an Unincorporated Association, Atlantic Coast District, International Longshoremen's Association, an Unincorporated Association, Locals 829 and 858, I. L. A., Baltimore, Maryland, Unincorporated Associations, United States of America v. International Longshoremen's Association, an Unincorporated Association, Atlantic Coast District, International Longshoremen's Association, an Unincorporated Association, Locals 829 and 858, I. L. A., Baltimore, Maryland, Unincorporated Associations“Allgeyer-Lochner-Adair-Coppage constitutional doctrine”
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.