New York v. Ferber’s Empirical Analysis
1982
Citation profile
1,214 federal appellate · 291 district · 1,602 state decisions
How this case has been cited
Cited by 4,356 later decisions (143 by the Supreme Court) — most recently March 2026 · most notably Connick v. Myers (1983), Members of the City Council of Los Angeles v. Taxpayers for Vincent (1984)
1,214 federal appellate · 291 district · 1,602 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
Relies on New York Times Co. v. Sullivan · Broadrick v. Oklahoma · McGowan v. State of Maryland Gallagher · Hamling v. United States · Ashwander v. Tennessee Valley Authority
Cited together with Broadrick v. Oklahoma · Miller v. California · Osborne v. Ohio · Ashcroft Attorney General v. Free Speech Coalition · Members of the City Council of Los Angeles v. Taxpayers for Vincent
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 4,356 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.
“persons whose expression is constitutionally protected may well refrain from exercising their rights for fear of criminal sanctions by a statute susceptible of application to protected expression.”
42 later decisions quote this exact passage · from the majority“The prevention of sexual exploitation and abuse of children constitutes a government objective of surpassing importance.”
40 later decisions quote this exact passage · from the majority“As with obscenity laws, criminal responsibility may not be imposed without some element of scienter on the part of the defendant.”
37 later decisions 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.