Withrow v. Larkin’s Empirical Analysis
1975
Citation profile
865 federal appellate · 336 district · 1,557 state decisions
How this case has been cited
Cited by 3,791 later decisions (37 by the Supreme Court) — most recently February 2026 · most notably Concrete Pipe & Products of Cal., Inc. v. Construction Laborers Pension Trust for Southern Cal. (1993), Bracy v. Gramley (1997)
865 federal appellate · 336 district · 1,557 state decisions — followed in 49 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 Richardson v. Perales · Morrissey v. Brewer · Pickering v. Board of Education of Township High School District 205 Will County Illinois · Goldberg v. Kelly · Gagnon v. Scarpelli
Cited together with In the Matters of Lee Roy Murchison and John Whites · Mathews v. Eldridge · Tumey v. State of Ohio · Gibson v. Berryhill · Board of Regents of State Colleges v. Roth
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 3,791 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.
“The contention that the combination of investigative and adjudicative functions necessarily creates an unconstitutional risk of bias in administrative adjudication has a much more difficult burden of persuasion to carry. It must overcome a presumption of honesty and integrity in those serving as adjudicators; and it must convince that, under a realistic appraisal of psychological tendencies and human weakness, conferring investigative and adjudicative powers on the same individuals poses such a risk of actual bias or prejudgment that the practice must be forbidden if the guarantee of due process is to be adequately implemented.”
307 later decisions quote this exact passage“combination of investigative and adjudicative functions does not, without more, constitute a due process violation.”
11 later decisions quote this exact passage“when review of an initial decision is mandated, the decisionmaker must be other than the one who made the decision under review”
5 later decisions 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.