Tenney v. Brandhove’s Empirical Analysis
341 U.S. 367 · 1951
Citation profile
1,304 federal appellate · 420 district · 395 state decisions
How this case has been cited
Cited by 3,338 later decisions (170 by the Supreme Court) — most recently June 2026 · most notably Harlow v. Fitzgerald (1982), Adickes v. S. H. Kress & Co. (1970)
1,304 federal appellate · 420 district · 395 state decisions — followed in 42 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
reviewedBrandhove v. Tenney (from Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals)
Relationships
Relies on Screws v. United States · Fletcher v. Peck · Kilbourn v. Thompson · Williams v. United States
Cited together with Pierson v. Ray · Scheuer v. Rhodes · Imbler v. Pachtman · Gravel v. United States · Monroe v. Pape
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 3,338 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.
“Legislators are immune from deterrents to the uninhibited discharge of their legislative duty, not for their private indulgence but for the public good. One must not expect uncommon courage even in legislators. The privilege would be of little value if they could be subjected to the cost and inconvenience and distractions of a trial upon a conclusion of the pleader, or to the hazard of a judgment against them based upon a jury’s speculation as to motives.”
70 later decisions quote this exact passage · from the majority“in the sphere of legitimate legislative activity.”
52 later decisions quote this exact passage · from the majority“in a field where legislators traditionally have power to act.”
40 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.