Lau v. Nichols’s Empirical Analysis
1974
Citation profile
231 federal appellate · 105 district · 30 state decisions
How this case has been cited
Cited by 780 later decisions (49 by the Supreme Court) — most recently July 2021 · most notably Cannon v. University of Chicago (1979), Pennhurst State School and Hospital v. Halderman (1981)
231 federal appellate · 105 district · 30 state decisions
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
reviewedLau v. Nichols (from Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals)
Relationships
Applies 42 U.S.C. § 2000D
Relies on Griggs v. Duke Power Co. · Udall v. Tallman · Thorpe v. Housing Authority of Durham · Mourning v. Family Publications Service, Inc. · Trafficante v. Metropolitan Life Insurance
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 780 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.
“may not . . . utilize criteria or methods of administration which have the effect of subjecting individuals to discrimination”
18 later decisions quote this exact passage · from the majority“students who do not understand English are effectively foreclosed from any meaningful education”
13 later decisions quote this exact passage · from the majority“No person in the United States shall, on the ground of race, color, or national origin, be excluded from participation in, be denied the benefits of, or be subjected to discrimination under any program or activity receiving Federal financial assistance.”
10 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.