Bethea v. Reid’s Empirical Analysis
445 F.2d 1163 · 1971
Citation profile
31 federal appellate · 17 district · 5 state decisions
How this case has been cited
Cited by 91 later decisions — most recently June 2020 · most notably Iqbal v. Hasty (2007), Bivens v. Six Unknown Named Agents of the Federal Bureau of Narcotics (1972)
31 federal appellate · 17 district · 5 state decisions
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 Bivens v. Six Unknown Named Agents of Federal Bureau of Narcotics · Hague v. Committee for Industrial Organization · Barr v. Matteo · United Gas Improvement Co. v. Continental Oil Co. · William J. Bauers, Jr. v. Herbert T. Heisel, Jr
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 91 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.
“[W]e believe that both reason and precedent require that a prosecuting attorney should be granted the same immunity as is afforded members of the judiciary. The reasons are clear: his primary responsibility is essentially judicial — the prosecution of the guilty and the protection of the innocent, Griffin v. United States, 295 F. 437, 439-440 (C.A.3, 1924); his office is vested with a vast quantum of discretion which is necessary for the vindication of the public interest. In this respect, it is imperative that he enjoy the same freedom and independence of action as that which is accorded members of the bench. This reasoning is nearly as well established in Anglo-American law as judicial immunity itself [footnote omitted].”
4 later decisions quote this exact passage · from the majority“a short and plain statement of the claim showing that the pleader is entitled to relief,”
1 later decision 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.