Elrod v. Burns’s Empirical Analysis
1976
Citation profile
2,705 federal appellate · 1,582 district · 516 state decisions
How this case has been cited
Cited by 9,183 later decisions (90 by the Supreme Court) — most recently April 2026 · most notably Connick v. Myers (1983), Branti v. Finkel (1980)
2,705 federal appellate · 1,582 district · 516 state decisions — followed in 38 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
reviewedBurns v. Elrod (from Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals)
Relationships
Relies on Board of Regents of State Colleges v. Roth · Morrissey v. Brewer · New York Times Co. v. Sullivan · Pickering v. Board of Education of Township High School District 205 Will County Illinois · Baker v. Carr
Cited together with Branti v. Finkel · Pickering v. Board of Education of Township High School District 205 Will County Illinois · Mt. Healthy City School District Board of Education v. Doyle · Perry v. Sindermann · Connick v. Myers
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 9,183 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.
“The loss of First Amendment freedoms, for even minimal periods of time, unquestionably constitutes irreparable injury.”
170 later decisions quote this exact passage“to the end that representative government not be undercut by tactics obstructing the implementation of policies of the new administration, policies presumably sanctioned by the electorate.”
110 later decisions quote this exact passage“political belief and association constitute the core of those activities protected by the First Amendment.”
96 later decisions quote this exact passage
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.