Parham v. J. R.’s Empirical Analysis
1979
Citation profile
372 federal appellate · 101 district · 897 state decisions
How this case has been cited
Cited by 1,863 later decisions (89 by the Supreme Court) — most recently March 2026 · most notably Troxel v. Granville (2000), Zinermon v. Burch (1990)
372 federal appellate · 101 district · 897 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 28 U.S.C. § 2281 · 42 U.S.C. § 1983 (Civil Rights Act of 1871 / Section 1983 (Ku Klux Klan Act)) · 42 U.S.C. § 2689
Relies on Mathews v. Eldridge · Morrissey v. Brewer · Wolff v. McDonnell · Goldberg v. Kelly · Roe v. Wade
Cited together with Mathews v. Eldridge · Wisconsin v. Yoder · Prince v. Commonwealth of Massachusetts · Meyer v. State of Nebraska · Santosky v. Kramer
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 1,863 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.
“that a state is not without constitutional control over parental discretion in dealing with children when their physical or mental health is jeopardized.”
124 later decisions quote this exact passage“"Although we acknowledge the fallibility of medical and psychiatric diagnosis, see O'Connor v. Donaldson, 422 U.S. 563, 584 [ 95 S.Ct. 2486, 2498 , 45 L.Ed.2d 396 ] (1975) (concurring opinion), we do not accept the notion that the shortcomings of specialists can always be avoided by shifting the decision from a trained specialist using the traditional tools of medical science to an untrained judge or administrative hearing officer after a judicial-type hearing. Even after a hearing, the nonspecialist decisionmaker must make a medical-psychiatric decision. Common human experience and scholarly opinions suggest that the supposed protections of an adversary proceeding to determine the appropriateness of medical decisions for the commitment and treatment of mental and emotional illness may well be more illusory than real." 442 U.S. at 609 , 99 S.Ct. at 2507, 61 L.Ed.2d at 123 .”
12 later decisions quote this exact passage · from the dissent“The history and culture of Western civilization reflect a strong tradition of parental concern for the nurture and upbringing of their children. This primary role of the parents in the upbringing of their children is now established beyond debate as an enduring American tradition.”
10 later decisions quote this exact passage · from the concurrence
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.