Smith v. Wade’s Empirical Analysis
1983
Citation profile
1,289 federal appellate · 548 district · 306 state decisions
How this case has been cited
Cited by 3,985 later decisions (41 by the Supreme Court) — most recently June 2025 · most notably Kentucky v. Graham (1985), Daniels v. Williams (1986)
1,289 federal appellate · 548 district · 306 state decisions — followed in 39 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
reviewedthe decision below (from Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals)
Relationships
Applies 42 U.S.C. § 1981 (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. § 1988 · 42 U.S.C. § 3612 (§ 812 of the Fair Housing Act (Title VIII, Civil Rights Act of 1968))
Relies on Adickes v. S. H. Kress & Co. · Scheuer v. Rhodes · New York Times Co. v. Sullivan · Edelman v. Jordan · Parratt v. Taylor
Cited together with Harlow v. Fitzgerald · Monell v. Department of Social Services of City of New York · Carey v. Piphus · City of Newport v. Fact Concerts, Inc. · Memphis Community School District v. Stachura
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 3,985 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.
“when the defendant's conduct is shown to be motivated by evil motive or intent, or when it involves reckless or callous indifference to the federally protected rights of others.”
117 later decisions quote this exact passage · from the concurrence“reckless or callous disregard for the plaintiff's rights, as well as intentional violations of federal law....”
15 later decisions quote this exact passage · from the majority“acted with reckless or callous indifference to the plaintiff's constitutional rights, or with evil motive or intent.”
11 later decisions quote this exact passage
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.