Schmidt v. Lessard’s Empirical Analysis
1974
Citation profile
341 federal appellate · 90 district · 219 state decisions
How this case has been cited
Cited by 994 later decisions (21 by the Supreme Court) — most recently August 2024 · most notably Withrow v. Larkin (1975), Bowen v. American Hospital Assn. (1986)
341 federal appellate · 90 district · 219 state decisions — followed in 31 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 International Longshoremen's Ass'n, Local 1291 v. Philadelphia Marine Trade Ass'n · Gunn v. University Committee to End the War in Viet Nam · Lessard v. Schmidt · University Committee to End the War in Viet Nam v. Gunn
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 994 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.
“[T]he specificity provisions of Rule 65(d) are no mere technical requirements. The Rule was designed to prevent uncertainty and confusion on the part of those faced with injunctive orders, and to avoid the possible founding of a contempt citation on a decree too vague to be understood.”
69 later decisions quote this exact passage · from the majority“The judicial contempt power is a potent weapon. When it is founded upon a decree too vague to be understood, it can be a deadly one.”
6 later decisions quote this exact passage · from the majority“although the order below is sufficient to invoke our appellate jurisdiction, it plainly does not satisfy the important requirements of Rule 65(d).”
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.