United States v. Johnson’s Empirical Analysis
1966
Citation profile
390 federal appellate · 127 district · 122 state decisions
How this case has been cited
Cited by 880 later decisions (50 by the Supreme Court) — most recently September 2025 · most notably Scheuer v. Rhodes (1974), United States v. Nixon (1974)
390 federal appellate · 127 district · 122 state decisions — followed in 26 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
reviewedUnited States v. Thomas F. Johnson, J. Kenneth Edlin, and William L. Robinson (from Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals)
Relationships
Applies 18 U.S.C. § 281 · 18 U.S.C. § 371
Relies on New York Times Co. v. Sullivan · Thornhill v. Alabama · Tenney v. Brandhove · Sinclair v. United States · United States v. Gainey
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 880 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.
“to prevent intimidation by the executive and accountability before a possibly hostile judiciary.”
15 later decisions quote this exact passage · from the majority“[s]ince the Glorious Revolution in Britain, and throughout United States history, the [legislative] privilege has been recognized as an important protection of the independence and integrity of the legislature. In the American governmental structure the clause serves the additional function of reinforcing the separation of powers so deliberately established by the Founders.”
14 later decisions quote this exact passage · from the majority“[F]or any Speech or Debate in either House, [Senators and Representatives] shall not be questioned in any other Place.”
13 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.