Bantam Books, Inc. v. Sullivan’s Empirical Analysis
1963
Citation profile
650 federal appellate · 229 district · 464 state decisions
How this case has been cited
Cited by 2,353 later decisions (139 by the Supreme Court) — most recently April 2026 · most notably Board of Regents of State Colleges v. Roth (1972), New York Times Co. v. Sullivan (1964)
650 federal appellate · 229 district · 464 state decisions — followed in 38 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. § 1257
Relies on Ex Parte: Edward T Young · Cantwell v. State of Connecticut · National Association for Advancement of Colored People v. Y Button · Roth v. United States · National Association for Advancement of Colored People v. State of Alabama Patterson
Cited together with Freedman v. Maryland · Near v. State of Minnesota Olson · Southeastern Promotions, Ltd. v. Conrad · New York Times Company v. United States · Roth v. United States
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 2,353 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.
“a heavy presumption against its constitutional validity.”
120 later decisions quote this exact passage · from the majority“); Bantam Books, Inc. v. Sullivan, 372 U.S. 58 , 64-65 n. 6, 83 S.Ct. 631 , 9 L.Ed.2d 584 (1963) (''The constitutional guarantee of freedom of the press embraces the circulation of books as well as their publication.”
11 later decisions quote this exact passage · from the dissent“Commission to Encourage Morality in Youth”
6 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.