Smith v. Organization of Foster Families for Equality & Reform’s Empirical Analysis
1977
Citation profile
314 federal appellate · 93 district · 984 state decisions
How this case has been cited
Cited by 1,897 later decisions (69 by the Supreme Court) — most recently March 2026 · most notably Santosky v. Kramer (1982), Greenholtz v. Inmates of Nebraska Penal and Correctional Complex (1979)
314 federal appellate · 93 district · 984 state decisions — followed in 48 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.
Relationships
Applies 42 U.S.C. § 1983 (Civil Rights Act of 1871 / Section 1983 (Ku Klux Klan Act))
Relies on Board of Regents of State Colleges v. Roth · Mathews v. Eldridge · Morrissey v. Brewer · Mullane v. Central Hanover Bank & Trust Co. · Wolff v. McDonnell
Cited together with Stanley v. Illinois · Santosky v. Kramer · Meyer v. State of Nebraska · Moore v. City of East Cleveland · Quilloin v. Walcott
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 1,897 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.
“[T]he importance of the familial relationship, to the individuals involved and to the society, stems from the emotional attachments that derive from the intimacy of daily association, and from the role it plays in `promot[ing] a way of life' through the instruction of children ... as well as from the fact of blood relationship.”
82 later decisions quote this exact passage · from the dissent“[i]f a State were to attempt to force the breakup of a natural family, over the objections of the parents and their children, without some showing of unfitness and for the sole reason that to do so was thought to be in the children's best interest.”
36 later decisions quote this exact passage · from the concurrence“First, the private interest that will be affected by the official action; second, the risk of an erroneous deprivation of such interest through the procedures used, and the probable value, if any, of additional or substitute procedural safeguards; and finally, the Government's interest, including the function involved and the fiscal and administrative burdens that the additional or substitute procedural requirement would entail.”
17 later decisions quote this exact passage · from the dissent
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.