United States v. W. T. Grant Co.’s Empirical Analysis
1953
Citation profile
2,550 federal appellate · 855 district · 235 state decisions
How this case has been cited
Cited by 6,138 later decisions (153 by the Supreme Court) — most recently June 2026 · most notably Bell v. Wolfish (1979), Steel Co. v. Citizens for a Better Environment (1998)
2,550 federal appellate · 855 district · 235 state decisions — followed in 35 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
Applies 15 U.S.C. § 19 (§ 8 of the Clayton Antitrust Act of 1914) · 15 U.S.C. § 25 (§ 15 of the Clayton Antitrust Act of 1914) · 15 U.S.C. § 29 · 28 U.S.C. § 3
Relies on Hecht Co. v. Bowles · United States v. Trans-Missouri Freight Ass'n · United States v. Oregon State Medical Society · Standard Oil Co. of California v. United States
Cited together with County of Los Angeles v. Davis · Southern Pacific Terminal Company v. Interstate Commerce Commission · United States v. Concentrated Phosphate Export Assn., Inc. · Marco Defunis et al. v. Charles Odegaard, President of the University of Washington. · Roe v. Wade
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 6,138 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.
“there is no reasonable expectation that the wrong will be repeated.”
303 later decisions quote this exact passage · from the majority“[i]t is the duty of the courts to beware of efforts to defeat injunctive relief by protestations of repentance and reform, especially when abandonment seems timed to anticipate suit, and there is probability of resumption.”
15 later decisions quote this exact passage · from the dissente.g. Porter v. Clarke · Dr. Chester A. Wilk, D.C., Dr. James W. Bryden, D.C., Dr. Patricia B. Arthur, D.C., and Dr. Michael D. Pedigo, D.C., Cross-Appellants v. American Medical Association, Cross-Appellee. Dr. Chester A. Wilk, D.C., Dr. James W. Bryden, D.C., Dr. Patricia B. Arthur, D.C., and Dr. Michael B. Pedigo, D.C., Plaintiffs-Cross-Appellants v. American Medical Association, Joint Commission on Accreditation of Hospitals, American College of Physicians and American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons, Defendants-Cross-Appellees“No person at the same time shall be a director in any two or more corporations, any one of which has capital, surplus, and undivided profits aggregating more than $1,000,000, engaged in whole or in part in commerce, . . . if such corporations are or shall have been theretofore, by virtue of their business and location of operation, competitors, so that the elimination of competition by agreement between them would constitute a violation of any of the provisions of any of the antitrust laws. . . .”
3 later decisions 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.