Tennessee v. Garner’s Empirical Analysis
1985
Citation profile
2,212 federal appellate · 707 district · 410 state decisions
How this case has been cited
Cited by 6,462 later decisions (86 by the Supreme Court) — most recently June 2025 · most notably United States v. Booker (2004), Graham v. Connor (1989)
2,212 federal appellate · 707 district · 410 state decisions — followed in 42 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
reviewedGarner v. Memphis Police Department (from Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals)
Relationships
Applies 28 U.S.C. § 2403 · 42 U.S.C. § 1983 (Civil Rights Act of 1871 / Section 1983 (Ku Klux Klan Act))
Relies on Terry v. Ohio · Monell v. Department of Social Services of City of New York · Carroll v. United States · Bell v. Wolfish · Payton v. New York
Cited together with Graham v. Connor · Harlow v. Fitzgerald · Anderson v. Creighton · Mitchell v. Forsyth · Monell v. Department of Social Services of City of New York
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 6,462 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.
“Where the officer has probable cause to believe that the suspect poses a threat of serious physical harm, either to the officer or to others, it is not constitutionally unreasonable to prevent escape by using deadly force. Thus, if the suspect threatens the officer with a weapon or there is probable cause to believe that he has committed a crime involving the infliction or threatened infliction of serious physical harm, deadly force may be used if necessary to prevent escape, and if, where feasible, some warning has been given.”
358 later decisions quote this exact passage“the officer has probable cause to believe that the suspect poses a significant threat of death or serious physical injury to the officer or others.”
35 later decisions quote this exact passage“The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the person or things to be seized.”
17 later decisions quote this exact passage · from the dissent
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.