Michigan v. Tyler’s Empirical Analysis
1978
Citation profile
674 federal appellate · 104 district · 1,166 state decisions
How this case has been cited
Cited by 2,496 later decisions (89 by the Supreme Court) — most recently June 2025 · most notably United States v. Leon (1984), Mincey v. Arizona (1978)
674 federal appellate · 104 district · 1,166 state decisions — followed in 46 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
Relies on Coolidge v. New Hampshire · United States v. Ventresca · Warden, Maryland Penitentiary v. Hayden · Ker v. State of California · Sedillo v. United States
Cited together with Mincey v. Arizona · Payton v. New York · Katz v. United States · Warden, Maryland Penitentiary v. Hayden · Terry v. Ohio
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 2,496 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.
“A burning building clearly presents an exigency of sufficient proportions to render a warrantless entry “reasonable.” Indeed, it would defy reason to suppose that firemen must secure a warrant or consent before entering a burning structure to put out the blaze.”
42 later decisions quote this exact passage · from the majority“warrantless entry by criminal law enforcement officials may be legal when there is a compelling need for official action and no time to secure a warrant.”
32 later decisions quote this exact passage · from the majority“[W]e hold that an entry to fight a fire requires no warrant, and that once in the building, officials may remain there for a reasonable time to investigate the cause of the blaze. Thereafter, additional entries to investigate the cause of the fire must be made pursuant to the warrant procedures governing administrative searches.”
16 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.