Califano v. Sanders’s Empirical Analysis
1977
Citation profile
2,377 federal appellate · 1,593 district · 218 state decisions
How this case has been cited
Cited by 8,000 later decisions (60 by the Supreme Court) — most recently June 2025 · most notably International Brotherhood of Teamsters v. United States (1977), Patterson v. McLean Credit Union (1989)
2,377 federal appellate · 1,593 district · 218 state decisions — followed in 30 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
reviewedSanders v. Weinberger (from Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals)
Relationships
Applies 28 U.S.C. § 1331
Relies on Mathews v. Eldridge · Citizens to Preserve Overton Park, Inc. v. Volpe · Abbott Laboratories v. Gardner · Weinberger v. Salfi
Cited together with Abbott Laboratories v. Gardner · Weinberger v. Salfi · Mathews v. Eldridge · Citizens to Preserve Overton Park, Inc. v. Volpe · Johnson v. Robison
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 8,000 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.
“cannot be read to authorize judicial review of alleged abuses of agency discretion in refusing to reopen claims for social security benefits.”
74 later decisions quote this exact passage · from the majority“step of foreclosing jurisdiction unless Congress' intent to do so is manifested by”
59 later decisions quote this exact passage · from the majority“A person suffering legal wrong because of agency action, or adversely affected or aggrieved by agency action within the meaning of a relevant statute, is entitled to judicial review thereof.”
55 later decisions quote this exact passage · from the concurrence
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.