Wirtz v. Hotel, Motel & Club Employees Union, Local 6’s Empirical Analysis
1968
Citation profile
208 federal appellate · 120 district ·
How this case has been cited
Cited by 635 later decisions (21 by the Supreme Court) — most recently September 2018 · most notably Mills v. Electric Auto-Lite Co. (1970), Finnegan v. Leu (1982)
208 federal appellate · 120 district ·
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
reviewedW. Willard Wirtz, Secretary of Labor, United States Department of Labor v. Hotel, Motel and Club Employees Union, Local 6 (from Second Circuit Court of Appeals)
Relationships
Applies 29 U.S.C. § 411 · 29 U.S.C. § 481 · 29 U.S.C. § 482
Relies on Calhoon v. Harvey · Wirtz v. Local 153 Glass Bottle Blowers Association · Wirtz v. Local Union No. 125 · World Airways, Inc. v. Pan American World Airways, 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 635 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.
“(a) A member of a labor organization— (1) who has exhausted the remedies available under the constitution and bylaws of such organization and of any parent body, or (2) who has invoked such available remedies without obtaining a final decision within three calendar months after their invocation, may file a complaint with the Secretary within one calendar month thereafter alleging the violation of any provision of section 481 of this title (including violation of the constitution and bylaws of. the labor organization pertaining to the election and removal of officers). The challenged election shall be presumed valid pending a final decision thereon (as hereinafter provided) and in the interim the affairs of the organization shall be conducted by the officers elected or in such other manner as its constitution and bylaws may provide. (b) The Secretary shall investigate such complaint and, if he finds probable cause to believe that a violation of this subchapter has occurred and has not been remedied, he shall, within sixty days after the filing of such complaint, bring a civil action against the labor organization as an entity in the district court of the United States in which such labor organization maintains its principal office to set aside the invalid election, if any, and to direct the conduct of an election or hearing and vote upon the removal of officers under the supervision of the Secretary and in accordance with the provisions of this subchapter and such rules and re”
16 later decisions quote this exact passage · from the majority“[t]he check of democratic elections as a preventative measure is seriously impaired by candidacy qualifications which substantially deplete the ranks of those who might run in opposition to incumbents.”
14 later decisions quote this exact passage · from the majority“. . . (A) reasonable opportunity shall be given for the nomination of candidates and every member in good standing shall be eligible to be a candidate and to hold office (subject to . . . reasonable qualifications uniformly imposed) and shall have the right to vote for or otherwise support the candidate or candidates of his choice . . ..”
10 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.