Rizzo v. Goode’s Empirical Analysis
1976
Citation profile
1,254 federal appellate · 955 district · 109 state decisions
How this case has been cited
Cited by 4,662 later decisions (75 by the Supreme Court) — most recently March 2025 · most notably Monell v. Department of Social Services of City of New York (1978), Lujan v. Defenders of Wildlife (1992)
1,254 federal appellate · 955 district · 109 state decisions — followed in 25 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
reviewedGoode v. Rizzo (from Third Circuit Court of Appeals)
Relationships
Applies 28 U.S.C. § 2283 · 42 U.S.C. § 1983 (Civil Rights Act of 1871 / Section 1983 (Ku Klux Klan Act))
Relies on Baker v. Carr · Monroe v. Pape · Brown et al. v. Board of Education of Topeka et al. · O'Shea v. Littleton · Swann v. Charlotte-Mecklenburg Board of Education
Cited together with Monell v. Department of Social Services of City of New York · Harlow v. Fitzgerald · O'Shea v. Littleton · Monroe v. Pape · Estelle v. Gamble
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 4,662 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.
“appropriate consideration must be given to principles of federalism in determining the availability and scope of equitable relief”
58 later decisions quote this exact passage · from the majority“an 'affirmative' link ... between the unconstitutional acts by their subordinates and their 'adoption of any plan or policy ... -- express or otherwise -- showing their authorization or approval of such misconduct.'”
37 later decisions quote this exact passage · from the majority“what one of a small, unnamed minority of policemen might do to them in the future”
9 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.