Commonwealth v. Nelson’s Empirical Analysis
1954
Citation profile
3 federal appellate · 31 state decisions
How this case has been cited
Cited by 51 later decisions (2 by the Supreme Court) — most recently August 1989 · most notably Pennsylvania v. Nelson (1956), Harris-Walsh, Inc. v. Dickson City Borough (1966)
3 federal appellate · 31 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
Applies 18 U.S.C. § 371
Relies on Powell v. State of Alabama Patterson · Hines v. Davidowitz · Rice v. Santa Fe Elevator Corp. · Thornhill v. Alabama · Tumey v. State of Ohio
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 51 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.
““We examine these Acts only to determine the congressional plan. Looking to all of them in the aggregate, the conclusion'is infescápable-that Congress ■’ has intended'to occupy the field of sedition. Taken as á whole, they evince a ! congressional plan which makes it reasonable to determine that no room, has been left for the States to supplement it. Therefore, a state sedition statute .. is superseded regardless of whether it purports to supplement the federal law. ■ * * ; ? “ * * *'" the federal statutes ‘touch a field" in which the federal interest is -⅛0- dominant that the federal system (must) be assumed to preclude enforcement of state laws on'the same subject.’ * * * Congreás having thus treated seditious conduct as a matter of vital national concern, it is in 'ho sense a local enforcement problem. * * * “* * * enforcement of state sedition acts presents a serious danger of conflict with the administration of the federal program.””
1 later decision quote this exact passage · from the majority“to speak freely and without fear, even in criticism of the government, will at the same time be protected.”
1 later decision quote this exact passage · from the majoritye.g. Clark v. Meade“unless that was the clear and manifest purpose of Congress,”
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.