Kleppe v. Sierra Club’s Empirical Analysis
1976
Citation profile
964 federal appellate · 631 district · 64 state decisions
How this case has been cited
Cited by 2,777 later decisions (30 by the Supreme Court) — most recently June 2025 · most notably Winter v. Natural Resources Defense Council, Inc. (2008), Vermont Yankee Nuclear Power Corp. v. Natural Resources Defense Council, Inc. (1978)
964 federal appellate · 631 district · 64 state decisions — followed in 10 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
reviewedthe decision below (from District of Columbia Circuit Court of Appeals)
Relationships
Applies 28 U.S.C. § 1331 · 28 U.S.C. § 1361 · 42 U.S.C. § 4321 (§ 2 of the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969) · 42 U.S.C. § 4331 (§ 101 of the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969) · 42 U.S.C. § 4332 (§ 102 of the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969)
Relies on Citizens to Preserve Overton Park, Inc. v. Volpe · United States v. Watson · Association of Data Processing Service Organizations Inc v. B Camp Barlow · Natural Resources Defense Council, Inc. v. Morton
Cited together with Vermont Yankee Nuclear Power Corp. v. Natural Resources Defense Council, Inc. · Citizens to Preserve Overton Park, Inc. v. Volpe · Marsh v. Oregon Natural Resources Council · Robertson v. Methow Valley Citizens Council · Strycker's Bay Neighborhood Council, Inc. v. Karlen
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 2,777 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.
“interject itself within the area of discretion of the executive as to the choice of the action to be taken.”
85 later decisions quote this exact passage · from the dissent“major Federal actions significantly affecting the quality of the human environment.”
38 later decisions quote this exact passage“Absent a showing of arbitrary action, we must assume that the agencies have exercised this discretion appropriately.”
27 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.