Bell v. United States’s Empirical Analysis
1961
Citation profile
78 federal appellate · 39 district · 14 state decisions
How this case has been cited
Cited by 518 later decisions (22 by the Supreme Court) — most recently April 2023 · most notably Bowen v. Massachusetts (1988), United States v. Larionoff (1977)
78 federal appellate · 39 district · 14 state decisions
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 Service v. Dulles · Vitarelli v. Seaton · United States Ex Rel. Toth v. Quarles · Williams v. United States · In re Grimley
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 518 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.
“common-law rules governing private contracts have no place in the area of military pay”
18 later decisions quote this exact passage · from the majority““In the naval, as in the military service, the right to compensation does not depend upon, nor is it controlled by, ‘general principles of law5; [sic] it rests upon, and is governed by, certain statutory provisions or regulations made in pursuance thereof, which specially apply to such service. These fix the pay to which officers and men belonging to the Navy are entitled; and the rule to be deduced therefrom is that both officers and men become entitled to the pay thus fixed so long as they remain in the Navy, whether they actually perform service or not, unless their right thereto is forfeited or lost in some one of the modes prescribed in the provisions or regulations adverted to.” 15 Op. Atty. Gen. 175, 176.”
3 later decisions quote this exact passage · from the majority““I have been advised that the following determinations have been made regarding the status of all united States Army Voluntary Non-Repatriates who elected not to accept repatriation to united States control under the terms of the Korean Armistice Agreement prior to 23 January 1954: “a. That all Voluntary Non-Repatriates who refused to elect repatriation prior to 23 January 1954, under the terms of the Korean Armistice Agreement have, as demonstrated by their refusal to elect repatriation to the United States and their records as prisoners of war, adopted, adhered to or supported the aims of Communism, one of which is the overthrow of all non-Communist governments, including the Government of the United States, by force or violence.””
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.