Fowler v. Rhode Island’s Empirical Analysis
1953
Citation profile
164 federal appellate · 33 district · 95 state decisions
How this case has been cited
Cited by 508 later decisions (55 by the Supreme Court) — most recently June 2025 · most notably Perry Education Ass'n v. Perry Local Educators' Ass'n (1983), Sherbert v. Verner (1963)
164 federal appellate · 33 district · 95 state decisions — followed in 21 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 28 U.S.C. § 1257
Relies on Reynolds v. States · Niemotko v. State of Maryland Kelley · Davis v. Beason · Davis v. Commonwealth of Massachusetts
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 508 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.
“[I]t is no business of courts to say that what is a religious practice or activity for one group is not religion under the protection of the First Amendment.”
7 later decisions quote this exact passage · from the majority“a religious service of [one sect] is treated differently than a religious service of other sects”
2 later decisions quote this exact passage · from the majority“That broad concession ... is fatal to Rhode Island's case. For it plainly shows that a religious service of Jehovah's Witnesses is treated differently than a religious service of other sects.... [I]f we affirmed this conviction in the face of the concession made during oral argument Baptist, Methodist, Presbyterian, or Episcopal ministers, Catholic priests, Moslem mullahs, Buddhist monks could all preach to their congregations in Pawtucket's parks with impunity. But the hand of the law would be laid on the shoulder of a minister of this unpopular group for performing the same function.”
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.