Bell v. Wolfish’s Empirical Analysis
1979
Citation profile
4,263 federal appellate · 1,662 district · 1,885 state decisions
How this case has been cited
Cited by 13,988 later decisions (180 by the Supreme Court) — most recently February 2026 · most notably Ashcroft v. Iqbal (2009), Graham v. Connor (1989)
4,263 federal appellate · 1,662 district · 1,885 state decisions — followed in 49 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
reviewedWolfish v. Levi (from Second Circuit Court of Appeals)
Relationships
Relies on Terry v. Ohio · Katz v. United States · Morrissey v. Brewer · In the Matter of Samuel Winship · Wolff v. McDonnell
Cited together with Estelle v. Gamble · Wolff v. McDonnell · Harlow v. Fitzgerald · Procunier v. Martinez · Pell v. Procunier
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 13,988 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.
“convicted prisoners do not forfeit all constitutional protections by reason of their conviction and confinement in prison.”
643 later decisions quote this exact passage“The test of reasonableness under the Fourth Amendment is not capable of precise definition or mechanical application. In each case it requires a balancing of the need for the particular search against the invasion of personal rights that the search entails. Courts must consider the scope of the particular intrusion, the manner in which it is conducted, the justification for initiating it, and the place in which it is conducted.”
288 later decisions quote this exact passage · from the majority“enmeshed in the minutiae of prison operations”
42 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.