Lehr v. Robertson’s Empirical Analysis
1983
Citation profile
182 federal appellate · 52 district · 1,657 state decisions
How this case has been cited
Cited by 2,151 later decisions (28 by the Supreme Court) — most recently June 2026 · most notably City of Cleburne Texas v. Cleburne Living Center (1985), Planned Parenthood of Southeastern Pennsylvania v. P Casey P Casey (1992)
182 federal appellate · 52 district · 1,657 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 Board of Regents of State Colleges v. Roth · Mathews v. Eldridge · Morrissey v. Brewer · Mullane v. Central Hanover Bank & Trust Co. · Santosky v. Kramer
Cited together with Stanley v. Illinois · Caban v. Mohammed · Quilloin v. Walcott · Santosky v. Kramer · Meyer v. State of Nebraska
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 2,151 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.
“The significance of the biological connection is that it offers the natural father an opportunity that no other male possesses to develop a relationship with his offspring. If he grasps that opportunity and accepts some measure of responsibility for the child's future, he may enjoy the blessings of the parent-child relationship and make uniquely valuable contributions to the child's development. If he fails to do so, the Federal Constitution will not automatically compel a State to listen to his opinion of where the child's best interests lie.”
210 later decisions quote this exact passage · from the dissent“When an unwed father demonstrates a full commitment to the responsibilities of parenthood by [coming] forward to participate in the rearing of his child, his interest in personal contact with his child acquires substantial protection under the Due Process Clause.”
31 later decisions quote this exact passagee.g. Beltran v. Allan · Doe v. Queen“a full commitment to the responsibilities of parenthood acquires substantial protection under the due process clause.”
25 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.