American Federation of Labor Arizona State Federation of Labor v.’s Empirical Analysis
335 U.S. 538 · 1949
Citation profile
23 federal appellate · 8 district · 196 state decisions
How this case has been cited
Cited by 321 later decisions (24 by the Supreme Court) — most recently November 2018 · most notably City of Cleburne Texas v. Cleburne Living Center (1985), McGowan v. State of Maryland Gallagher (1961)
23 federal appellate · 8 district · 196 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 National Labor Relations Board v. Jones & Laughlin Steel Corp. · Steele v. Louisville & Nashville Railroad · Elgin Ry Co v. Burley · Joseph Lochner v. People of the State of New York · Order of Railroad Telegraphers v. Railway Express Agency, Inc.
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 321 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.
““ ‘Even where the social undesirability of a law may be convincingly urged, invalidation of the law by a court debilitates popular democratic government. Most laws dealing with economic and social problems are matters of trial and error. That which before trial appears to be demonstrably bad may belie prophesy in actual operation. It may not prove good, but it may prove innocuous. But even if a law is found wanting on trial, it is better that its defects should be demonstrated and removed than that the law should be aborted by judicial fiat. Such an assertion of judicial power deflects responsibility from those on whom in a democratic society it ultimately rests—the people.’ ””
6 later decisions quote this exact passage · from the dissent““ * * * that the existence of evils against which the law should afford protection and the relative need of different groups for that protection ‘is a matter for the legislative judgment.’ ””
3 later decisions quote this exact passage · from the majority“Courts can fulfill their responsibility in a democratic society only to the extent that they suceed in shaping their judgments by rational standards, and rational standards are both impersonal and communicable. Matters of policy, however, are by definition matters which demand the resolution of conflicts of value, and the elements of conflicting values are largely imponderable. Assessment of their competing worth involves differences of feeling; it is also an exercise in prophesy. Obviously the proper forum for mediating a clash of feelings and rendering a prophetic judgment is the body chosen for those purposes by the people.”
1 later decision 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.