United States v. Burnison’s Empirical Analysis
339 U.S. 87 · 1950
Citation profile
45 federal appellate · 9 district · 82 state decisions
How this case has been cited
Cited by 200 later decisions (29 by the Supreme Court) — most recently June 2006 · most notably Miree v. County Georgia Phillips (1977), Cramp v. Board of Public Instruction of Orange Cty. (1961)
45 federal appellate · 9 district · 82 state decisions — followed in 14 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 Gregory v. Helvering · Local Loan Co. v. Hunt · United States v. Darby · Mondou v. New York, New Haven & Hartford Railroad · Lyeth v. Hoey
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 200 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.
““Differences and distinctions in a state’s treatment of persons are frequently claimed to be discriminatory in violation of the Equal Protection and Privileges and Immunity Clauses of the Fourteenth Amendment. But such differences and distinctions, even when applied to persons clearly protected by the Fourteenth Amendment, are not in themselves unconstitutional. It is only when the variations are arbitrary and without reasonable legal basis that an unconstitutional discrimination occurs. A long line of decisions has molded this judicial concept.” United States v. Burnison, 339 U.S. 87, 91 , 70 S.Ct. 503, 508 , 94 L.Ed. 675 (1950).”
2 later decisions quote this exact passage · from the majority““The United States would have no semblance of a claim here were it not for wills probated under California law. The Fox case is only one of a long line of cases which have consistently held that part of the residue of sovereignty retained by the states, a residue insured by the Tenth Amendment, is the power to determine the manner of testamentary transfer of a domiciliary’s property and the power to determine who may be made beneficiaries. * * * ””
2 later decisions quote this exact passage · from the majority““A testamentary disposition may be made to the state, to counties, to municipal corporations, to natural persons capable by law of taking the property, to unincorporated religious, benevolent or fraternal societies or associations or lodges or branches thereof, and to corporations formed for religious, scientific, literary, or solely educational or hospital or sanatorium purposes, or primarily for the public preservation of forests and natural scenery, or to maintain public libraries, museums or art galleries, or for similar public purposes. No other corporation can take under a will, unless expressly authorized by statute.””
1 later decision 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.