Goldberg v. Kelly’s Empirical Analysis
1970
Citation profile
2,969 federal appellate · 1,433 district · 3,355 state decisions
How this case has been cited
Cited by 11,942 later decisions (307 by the Supreme Court) — most recently February 2026 · most notably Board of Regents of State Colleges v. Roth (1972), Mathews v. Eldridge (1976)
2,969 federal appellate · 1,433 district · 3,355 state decisions — followed in 50 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
Relies on Gideon v. Wainwright · Powell v. State of Alabama Patterson · Griswold v. State of Connecticut · Rochin v. People of California
Cited together with Mathews v. Eldridge · Board of Regents of State Colleges v. Roth · Morrissey v. Brewer · Cafeteria & Restaurant Workers Union, Local 473 v. McElroy · Perry v. Sindermann
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 11,942 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.
“termination of aid pending resolution of a controversy over eligibility may deprive an eligible recipient of the very means by which to live while he waits.”
175 later decisions quote this exact passage · from the majority“at a meaningful time and in a meaningful manner.”
97 later decisions quote this exact passage · from the concurrence“must be tailored to the capacities and circumstances of those who are to be heard.”
46 later decisions quote this exact passage · from the concurrence
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.