Briscoe v. W’s Empirical Analysis
1983
Citation profile
869 federal appellate · 366 district · 472 state decisions
How this case has been cited
Cited by 3,518 later decisions (66 by the Supreme Court) — most recently March 2026 · most notably Mitchell v. Forsyth (1985), Malley v. Briggs (1986)
869 federal appellate · 366 district · 472 state decisions — followed in 40 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
reviewedBriscoe v. Lahue (from Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals)
Relationships
Applies 18 U.S.C. § 241 (Church Arson Prevention Act of 1996) · 18 U.S.C. § 242 · 28 U.S.C. § 1343 · 42 U.S.C. § 1982 (Civil Rights Act of 1866) · 42 U.S.C. § 1983 (Civil Rights Act of 1871 / Section 1983 (Ku Klux Klan Act)) · 42 U.S.C. § 1985
Relies on Monell v. Department of Social Services of City of New York · Adickes v. S. H. Kress & Co. · Bivens v. Six Unknown Named Agents of Federal Bureau of Narcotics · United States v. Agurs · Parratt v. Taylor
Cited together with Imbler v. Pachtman · Harlow v. Fitzgerald · Butz v. Economou · Malley v. Briggs · Pierson v. Ray
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 3,518 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.
“the claims of the individual must yield to the dictates of public policy, which requires that the paths which lead to the ascertainment of truth should be left as free and unobstructed as possible.”
96 later decisions quote this exact passage“'controversies sufficiently intense to erupt in litigation are not easily capped by a judicial decree' ... the common law provided absolute immunity from subsequent damages liability for all persons--governmental or otherwise--who were integral parts of the judicial process.”
17 later decisions quote this exact passage“A police officer on the witness stand performs the same functions as any other witness; he is subject to compulsory process, takes an oath, responds to questions on direct examination and cross-examination, and may be prosecuted subsequently for perjury.”
9 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.