Trans World Airlines, Inc. v. Hardison’s Empirical Analysis
1977
Citation profile
562 federal appellate · 178 district · 123 state decisions
How this case has been cited
Cited by 1,550 later decisions (56 by the Supreme Court) — most recently May 2025 · most notably Pullman-Standard v. Swint (1982), American Tobacco Co. v. Patterson (1982)
562 federal appellate · 178 district · 123 state decisions — followed in 22 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
reviewedHardison v. Trans World Airlines, Inc. (from Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals)
Relationships
Applies 42 U.S.C. § 2000E (§ 701 of the Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964) · 42 U.S.C. § 2000E (§ 703 of the Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964)
Relies on McDonnell Douglas Corp. v. Green · Neil v. Biggers · International Brotherhood of Teamsters v. United States · Griggs v. Duke Power Co. · Alexander v. Gardner-Denver Co.
Cited together with Ansonia Board of Education v. Philbrook · McDonnell Douglas Corp. v. Green · Anderson v. Liberty Lobby, Inc. · Celotex Corporation v. Catrett H · International Brotherhood of Teamsters v. United States
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 1,550 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.
“The term “religion” includes all aspects of religious observance and practice, as well as belief, unless an employer demonstrates that he is unable to reasonably accommodate to an employee’s or prospective employee’s religious observance or practice without undue hardship on the conduct of the employer’s business.”
131 later decisions quote this exact passage · from the majority“To require an employer to bear more than a de minimis cost in order to accommodate an employee's religious beliefs is an undue hardship.”
12 later decisions quote this exact passage“deny the shift and job preferences of some employees,”
7 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.