Poe v. Ullman’s Empirical Analysis
1961
Citation profile
701 federal appellate · 297 district · 377 state decisions
How this case has been cited
Cited by 2,378 later decisions (202 by the Supreme Court) — most recently March 2026 · most notably In the Matter of Samuel Winship (1970), Gideon v. Wainwright (1963)
701 federal appellate · 297 district · 377 state decisions — followed in 37 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 Mapp v. Ohio · Ex Parte: Edward T Young · Boyd v. United States · Rochin v. People of California · McGowan v. State of Maryland Gallagher
Cited together with Griswold v. State of Connecticut · Roe v. Wade · Younger v. Harris · Steffel v. Thompson · Doe v. Bolton
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 2,378 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.
“[T]he full scope of the liberty guaranteed by the Due Process Clause cannot be found in or limited by the precise terms of the specific guarantees elsewhere provided in the Constitution. This “liberty” is not a series of isolated points pricked out in terms of the taking of property; the freedom of speech, press, and religion; the right to keep and bear arms; the freedom from unreasonable searches and seizures; and so on. It is a rational continuum which, broadly speaking, includes a freedom from all substantial arbitrary impositions and purposeless restraints ....”
50 later decisions quote this exact passage · from the majority“not a legal concept with a fixed content or susceptible of scientific verification.”
16 later decisions quote this exact passage · from the dissent“immediately harmed, or immediately threatened with harm”
16 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.