Middlesex County Sewerage Authority v. National Sea Clammers Assn.’s Empirical Analysis
1981
Citation profile
1,206 federal appellate · 589 district · 171 state decisions
How this case has been cited
Cited by 3,613 later decisions (103 by the Supreme Court) — most recently June 2026 · most notably Harlow v. Fitzgerald (1982), United States v. Mitchell (1983)
1,206 federal appellate · 589 district · 171 state decisions — followed in 32 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
reviewedNational Sea Clammers Ass'n v. City of New York (from Third Circuit Court of Appeals)
Relationships
Applies 28 U.S.C. § 1331 · 28 U.S.C. § 1346 (Federal Tort Claims Act) · 33 U.S.C. § 1251 (Alternative Water Sources Act of 2000) · 33 U.S.C. § 1319 · 33 U.S.C. § 1342 · 33 U.S.C. § 1362 · 33 U.S.C. § 1365 · 33 U.S.C. § 1369
Relies on Monell v. Department of Social Services of City of New York · Bivens v. Six Unknown Named Agents of Federal Bureau of Narcotics · Cort v. Ash · Sierra Club v. Morton · Cannon v. University of Chicago
Cited together with Maine v. Thiboutot · Pennhurst State School and Hospital v. Halderman · Cort v. Ash · Cannon v. University of Chicago · Transamerica Mortgage Advisors, Inc. v. Lewis
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 3,613 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.
“[w]hen the remedial devices provided in a particular Act are sufficiently comprehensive, they may suffice to demonstrate congressional intent to preclude the remedy of suits under Sec. 1983.”
138 later decisions quote this exact passage · from the majority“unusually elaborate enforcement provisions”
94 later decisions quote this exact passage“Every person who, under color of any statute, ordinance, regulation, custom, or usage, of any State or Territory or the District of Columbia, subjects, or causes to be subjected, any citizen of the United States or other person within the jurisdiction thereof to the deprivation of any rights, privileges, or immunities secured by the Constitution and laws, shall be liable to the party injured in an action at law, suit in equity, or other proper proceeding for redress.”
25 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.