Breithaupt v. Abram’s Empirical Analysis
1957
Citation profile
218 federal appellate · 39 district · 818 state decisions
How this case has been cited
Cited by 1,305 later decisions (46 by the Supreme Court) — most recently December 2025 · most notably Schmerber v. State of California (1966), County of Sacramento v. Lewis (1998)
218 federal appellate · 39 district · 818 state decisions — followed in 46 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 Rochin v. People of California · Weeks v. United States · Palko v. State of Connecticut · Wolf v. People of the State of Colorado · Brown v. State of Mississippi
Cited together with Schmerber v. State of California · Rochin v. People of California · Mapp v. Ohio · Wolf v. People of the State of Colorado · Winston v. Lee
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 1,305 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.
“The increasing slaughter on our highways, most of which should be avoidable, now reaches the astounding figures only heard of on the battlefield”
53 later decisions quote this exact passage · from the majority“We set aside the conviction because such conduct 'shocked the conscience' and was so 'brutal' and 'offensive' that it did not comport with traditional ideas of fair play and decency.”
9 later decisions quote this exact passage · from the majoritye.g. Halley v. Huckaby · Doe v. Woodard“there is nothing 'brutal' or 'offensive' in the taking of a sample of blood when done ... under the protective eye of a physician.”
5 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.