Donaldson v. United States’s Empirical Analysis
1971
Citation profile
1,139 federal appellate · 285 district · 102 state decisions
How this case has been cited
Cited by 2,453 later decisions (41 by the Supreme Court) — most recently September 2024 · most notably Upjohn Company v. United States (1981), Church of Scientology of California v. United States (1992)
1,139 federal appellate · 285 district · 102 state decisions — followed in 23 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
reviewedthe decision below (from Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals)
Relationships
Relies on United States v. Powell · Jenkins v. McKeithen · Hannah v. Larche · Gotthelf v. Commissioner
Cited together with United States v. Powell · United States v. National Bank · Reisman v. Caplin · Couch v. United States · Trbovich v. United Mine Workers
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 2,453 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.
“would thwart and defeat the appropriate investigatory powers that the Congress has placed in 'the Secretary or his delegate.'”
166 later decisions quote this exact passage · from the majority“when the applicant claims an interest relating to the property or transaction which is the subject of the action and he is so situated that the disposition of the action may as a practical matter impair or impede his ability to protect that interest, unless the applicant’s interest is adequately represented by existing parties.”
13 later decisions quote this exact passage · from the concurrence“an interest relating to the property or transaction which is the subject of the action.”
13 later decisions quote this exact passage
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.