Hensley v. Eckerhart’s Empirical Analysis
1983
Citation profile
5,666 federal appellate · 3,180 district · 2,151 state decisions
How this case has been cited
Cited by 21,392 later decisions (103 by the Supreme Court) — most recently March 2026 · most notably Kentucky v. Graham (1985), Blum v. Stenson (1984)
5,666 federal appellate · 3,180 district · 2,151 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.
Appellate journey
reviewedthe decision below (from Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals)
Relationships
Relies on Alyeska Pipeline Service Company v. Wilderness Society · Christiansburg Garment Co. v. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission · Bradley v. School Board of City of Richmond · Mills v. Electric Auto-Lite Co.
Cited together with Blum v. Stenson · Farrar v. Hobby · Texas State Teachers Ass'n v. Garland Independent School District · Pennsylvania v. Delaware Valley Citizens' Council for Clean Air · City of Riverside v. Rivera
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 21,392 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.
“[a] request for attorney's fees should not result in a second major litigation.”
1,905 later decisions quote this exact passage“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.”
220 later decisions quote this exact passage“In any action or proceeding to enforce a provision of sections 1981, 1982, 1983, 1985, and 1986 of this title, title IX of Public Law 92-318, or title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, 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.”
32 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.