Gannett Co Inc v. A’s Empirical Analysis
1979
Citation profile
478 federal appellate · 112 district · 908 state decisions
How this case has been cited
Cited by 2,017 later decisions (37 by the Supreme Court) — most recently March 2026 · most notably United States v. Raddatz (1980), Richmond Newspapers, Inc. v. Virginia (1980)
478 federal appellate · 112 district · 908 state decisions — followed in 47 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 18 U.S.C. § 2510 (Electronic Communications Privacy Act of 1986)
Relies on Bivens v. Six Unknown Named Agents of Federal Bureau of Narcotics · Barker v. Wingo · Faretta v. California · Jackson v. Denno · Berger v. United States
Cited together with Richmond Newspapers, Inc. v. Virginia · Globe Newspaper Company v. Superior Court for County of Norfolk · Press-Enterprise Company v. Superior Court of California Riverside County · Nebraska Press Assn. v. Stuart · Waller v. Georgia
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 2,017 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.
“Openness in court proceedings may improve the quality of testimony, induce unknown witnesses to come forward with relevant testimony, cause all trial participants to perform their duties more conscientiously, and generally give the public an opportunity to observe the judicial system.”
141 later decisions quote this exact passage“capable of repetition, yet evading review.”
16 later decisions quote this exact passage“a substantial probability that alternatives to closure will not protect adequately his right to a fair trial”
12 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.