Bivens v. Six Unknown Named Agents of Federal Bureau of Narcotics’s Empirical Analysis
1971
Citation profile
6,535 federal appellate · 3,235 district · 769 state decisions
How this case has been cited
Cited by 23,267 later decisions (349 by the Supreme Court) — most recently March 2026 · most notably Ashcroft v. Iqbal (2009), Monell v. Department of Social Services of City of New York (1978)
6,535 federal appellate · 3,235 district · 769 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.
Appellate journey
reviewedBivens v. Six Unknown Named Agents of Federal Bureau of Narcotics (from Second Circuit Court of Appeals)
Relationships
Relies on Terry v. Ohio · Erie Co v. Tompkins · Katz v. United States · United States v. Wade
Cited together with Harlow v. Fitzgerald · Butz v. Economou · Davis v. Passman · Carlson v. Green · Bell v. Hood
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 23,267 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.
“special factors counselling hesitation in the absence of affirmative action by Congress.”
114 later decisions quote this exact passage · from the majority“a particular remedial mechanism normally available in the federal courts,”
39 later decisions quote this exact passage · from the majority“Every person who, under color of any statute, ordinance, regulation, custom, or usage, of any State or Territory, subjects, or causes to be subjected, any citizen of the United States or other person within the jurisdiction thereof to the deprivation of any rights, privileges, or immunities secured by the Constitution and laws, shall be liable to the party injured in an action at law, suit in equity, or other proper proceeding for redress.”
36 later decisions quote this exact passage · from the dissent
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.