Brown et al. v. Board of Education of Topeka et al.’s Empirical Analysis
1954
Citation profile
3,133 federal appellate · 615 district · 1,187 state decisions
How this case has been cited
Cited by 8,217 later decisions (496 by the Supreme Court) — most recently June 2026 · most notably Monell v. Department of Social Services of City of New York (1978), Adickes v. S. H. Kress & Co. (1970)
3,133 federal appellate · 615 district · 1,187 state decisions — followed in 49 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. § 1253 · 28 U.S.C. § 2281
Relies on Bolling v. Sharpe · Plessy v. Ferguson · Strauder v. West Virginia · Slaughter-House Cases the Butchers' Benevolent Association of New Orleans v. The Crescent City Live
Cited together with Brown v. Board of Education · Cooper v. Aaron · Green v. County School Board of New Kent County · Swann v. Charlotte-Mecklenburg Board of Education · Plessy v. Ferguson
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 8,217 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.
“Today, education is perhaps the most important function of state and local governments. Compulsory school attendance laws and the great expenditures for education both demonstrate our recognition of the importance of education to our democratic society. It is required in the performance of our most basic public responsibilities, even service in the armed forces. It is the very foundation of good citizenship. Today it is a principal instrument in awakening the child to cultural values, in preparing him for later professional training, and in helping him to adjust normally to his environment. In these days, it is doubtful that any child may reasonably be expected to succeed in life if he is denied the opportunity of an education. Such an opportunity, where the state has undertaken to provide it, is a right which must be made available to all on equal terms.”
273 later decisions quote this exact passage · from the majority“[n]o State shall ... deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws,”
9 later decisions quote this exact passage · from the majority“once a state like New York chooses to provide public education, ... the right to an education 'must be made available to all on equal terms,' ... and this property interest cannot be denied without certain minimum procedures required by the Due Process Clause.”
4 later decisions quote this exact passage
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.