Scheuer v. Rhodes’s Empirical Analysis
1974
Citation profile
2,771 federal appellate · 6,967 district · 532 state decisions
How this case has been cited
Cited by 26,444 later decisions (163 by the Supreme Court) — most recently May 2025 · most notably Bell Atlantic Corp. v. Twombly (2007), Monell v. Department of Social Services of City of New York (1978)
2,771 federal appellate · 6,967 district · 532 state decisions — followed in 44 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
reviewedKrause v. Rhodes (from Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals)
Relationships
Applies 28 U.S.C. § 1332 (Class Action Fairness Act of 2005) · 42 U.S.C. § 1983 (Civil Rights Act of 1871 / Section 1983 (Ku Klux Klan Act))
Relies on Conley v. Gibson · Ex Parte: Edward T Young · Edelman v. Jordan · Monroe v. Pape
Cited together with Conley v. Gibson · Wood v. Strickland · Harlow v. Fitzgerald · Pierson v. Ray · Imbler v. Pachtman
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 26,444 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.
“unless it appears beyond doubt that the plaintiff can prove no set of facts in support of his claim which would entitle him to relief.”
374 later decisions quote this exact passage · from the majority“It is the existence of reasonable grounds for the belief formed at the time and in light of all the circumstances, coupled with good-faith belief, that affords a basis for qualified immunity of executive officers for acts performed in the course of official conduct.”
131 later decisions quote this exact passage · from the majoritye.g. Stone v. Powell · Foley v. Connelie“damages against individual defendants are a permissible remedy in some circumstances notwithstanding the fact that they hold public office.”
54 later decisions quote this exact passage · from the majority
How later courts have treated this case
Across 44 classified citations — whether each later court relied on, limited, or rejected this decision:
- 15followed
- 14explained
- 12cited without characterization
- 3distinguished
Treatment is classified from each citing court's own sentence. This is a running sample — coverage grows as the classification pass proceeds; overrulings are also tracked authoritatively in the case status.