Link v. Wabash Railroad’s Empirical Analysis
1962
Citation profile
2,492 federal appellate · 619 district · 995 state decisions
How this case has been cited
Cited by 7,602 later decisions (65 by the Supreme Court) — most recently June 2026 · most notably Coleman v. Thompson (1991), Thomas v. Arn (1986)
2,492 federal appellate · 619 district · 995 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.
Appellate journey
reviewedLink v. Wabash Railroad (from Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals)
Relationships
Relies on Securities and Exchange Commission v. Chenery Corporation · Societe Internationale Pour Participations Industrielles Et Commerciales, S. A. v. Rogers · Langnes v. Green · United States v. American Ry Express Co Southeastern Express Co
Cited together with National Hockey League v. Metropolitan Hockey Club, Inc. · Roadway Express, Inc. v. Piper · Societe Internationale Pour Participations Industrielles Et Commerciales, S. A. v. Rogers · Smith v. Ayer · Chambers v. Nasco, Inc.
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 7,602 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.
“governed not by rule or statute but by the control necessarily vested in courts to manage their own affairs so as to achieve the orderly and expeditious disposition of cases.”
459 later decisions quote this exact passage · from the majority“[K]eeping this suit alive merely because plaintiff should not be penalized for the omissions of his own attorney would be visiting the sins of plaintiff's lawyer upon the defendant.”
24 later decisions quote this exact passage · from the majority“in all cases not provided for by rule, the district courts may regulate their practice in any manner not inconsistent with these rules.”
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.