Reilly v. Pinkus’s Empirical Analysis
338 U.S. 269 · 1949
Citation profile
172 federal appellate · 36 district · 46 state decisions
How this case has been cited
Cited by 370 later decisions (7 by the Supreme Court) — most recently November 2021 · most notably Greene v. McElroy (1959), 33 Ill. 2d 326 - Darling v. Charleston Community Memorial Hospital (1965)
172 federal appellate · 36 district · 46 state decisions — followed in 15 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
reviewedPinkus v. Reilly (from Third Circuit Court of Appeals)
Relationships
Applies 15 U.S.C. § 45 (§ 5 of the Federal Trade Commission Act of 1914)
Relies on American School of Magnetic Healing v. McAnnulty · Federal Trade Commission v. Algoma Lumber Co. · Donaldson v. Read Magazine, Inc. · United States Milwaukee Social Democratic Pub Co v. Burleson
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 370 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.
“It certainly is illogical, if not actually unfair, to permit witnesses to give expert opinions based on book knowledge, and then deprive the party challenging such evidence of all opportunity to interrogate them about divergent opinions expressed in other reputable books.”
4 later decisions quote this exact passage · from the majority“We do not understand or accept it [the McAnnulty b holding] as prescribing an inexorable rule that automatically bars reliance of the fact-finding tribunal upon informed medical judgment every time medical witnesses can be produced who blindly adhere to a curative technique thoroughly discredited by reliable scientific experiences. But we do accept the McAnnulty decision as a wholesome limitation upon findings of fraud under the mail statutes when the charges concern medical practices in fields where knowledge has not yet been crystallized in the crucible of experience. For in the science of medicine, as in other sciences, experimentation is the spur of progress. It would amount to condemnation of new ideas without a trial to give the Postmaster General power to condemn new ideas as fraudulent solely because some cling to traditional opinions with unquestioning tenacity. Id. at 274 , 70 S.Ct. at 113 .”
3 later decisions quote this exact passage · from the majority“The power to refuse enforcement of orders for error in regard to evidence should be sparingly exercised. A large amount of discretion in the conduct of a hearing is necessarily reposed in an administrative agency.”
2 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.