Ashcroft v. Mattis’s Empirical Analysis
1977
Citation profile
198 federal appellate · 68 district · 46 state decisions
How this case has been cited
Cited by 539 later decisions (21 by the Supreme Court) — most recently November 2023 · most notably Lujan v. Defenders of Wildlife (1992), City of Los Angeles v. Lyons (1983)
198 federal appellate · 68 district · 46 state decisions — followed in 11 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
reviewedMattis v. Schnarr (from Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals)
Relationships
Relies on Aetna Life Ins Co of Hartford Conn v. Haworth · Maryland Casualty Co. v. Pacific Coal & Oil Co. · Richmond v. Arizona · Robert Dean Mattis, M.D. v. Patrolman Richard R. Schnarr
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 539 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.
“Although we are urged to consider the merits of the Court of Appeals’ holding, we are unable to do so, because this suit does not now present a live “case or controversy.” This suit was brought to determine the police officers’ liability for the death of appellee’s son. That issue has been decided, and there is no longer any possible basis for a damages claim. Nor is there any possible basis for a declaratory judgment. For a declaratory judgment to issue, there must be a dispute which calls, not for an advisory opinion upon a hypothetical basis, but for an adjudication of present right upon established facts. Here, ... appellee’s primary claim of a present interest in the controversy is that he will obtain emotional satisfaction from a ruling that his son’s death was wrongful. Emotional involvement in a lawsuit is not enough to meet the case-or-controversy requirement. ...”
10 later decisions quote this exact passage · from the majority“primary claim of a present interest in the controversy is that he will obtain emotional satisfaction from a ruling that his son's death was wrongful.”
3 later decisions quote this exact passage · from the majority“ha[d] another son who 'if ever arrested or brought under an attempt at arrest or suspicion of a felony, might flee or give the appearance of fleeing, and would therefore be in danger of being killed by these defendants ....”
1 later decision quote this exact passage · from the majoritye.g. Cross v. Lucius
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.