Maher v. Gagne’s Empirical Analysis
1980
Citation profile
842 federal appellate · 300 district · 360 state decisions
How this case has been cited
Cited by 2,569 later decisions (41 by the Supreme Court) — most recently February 2025 · most notably Hensley v. Eckerhart (1983), Kentucky v. Graham (1985)
842 federal appellate · 300 district · 360 state decisions — followed in 42 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
reviewedGagne v. Maher (from Second Circuit Court of Appeals)
Relationships
Relies on United Mine Workers of America v. Gibbs · Edelman v. Jordan · Hagans v. Lavine · Hutto v. Finney · Maine v. Thiboutot
Cited together with Hensley v. Eckerhart · Texas State Teachers Ass'n v. Garland Independent School District · Hewitt v. Helms · Alyeska Pipeline Service Company v. Wilderness Society · Hanrahan v. Hampton
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 2,569 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.
“for purposes of the award of counsel fees, parties may be considered to have prevailed when they vindicate rights through a consent judgment or without formally obtaining relief.”
56 later decisions quote this exact passage · from the majority“the court, in its discretion, may allow the prevailing party, other than the United States, a reasonable attorney's fee as part of the costs.”
43 later decisions quote this exact passage“Congress intended fees to be awarded where a pendent constitutional claim is involved, even if the statutory claim on which the plaintiff prevailed is one for which fees cannot be awarded under the Act.”
29 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.