Best v. Kelly’s Empirical Analysis
39 F.3d 328 · 1994
Citation profile
26 federal appellate · 77 district · 1 state decisions
How this case has been cited
Cited by 142 later decisions — most recently December 2019 · most notably Simpkins v. District of Columbia Government (1997), Anyanwutaku v. Moore (1998)
26 federal appellate · 77 district · 1 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 28 U.S.C. § 1343 · 28 U.S.C. § 1915 · 42 U.S.C. § 1983 (Civil Rights Act of 1871 / Section 1983 (Ku Klux Klan Act))
Relies on Heck v. Humphrey · Neitzke v. Williams · Bell v. Hood · Preiser v. Rodriguez · Hagans v. Lavine
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 142 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.
“A complaint may be dismissed on jurisdictional grounds when it 'is patently insubstantial, presenting no federal question suitable for decision.'”
3 later decisions quote this exact passage · from the majority“'so attenuated and unsubstantial as to be absolutely devoid of merit,’”
3 later decisions quote this exact passage · from the majority“Under Preiser and Heck , state [and District of Columbia] prisoners have no cause of action under 42 U.S.C. § 1983 , and the federal courts therefore have no jurisdiction under 28 U.S.C. § 1343 , with respect to claims of unconstitutional deprivations of good time credits. Such complaints must properly be dismissed for lack of jurisdiction under Rule 12(b)(1), rather than on the merits. As the Supreme Court acknowledged, "the prisoners might still be able to pursue the claims in habeas corpus actions.””
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.