Kentucky v. Graham’s Empirical Analysis
1985
Citation profile
1,882 federal appellate · 2,342 district · 754 state decisions
How this case has been cited
Cited by 10,638 later decisions (37 by the Supreme Court) — most recently March 2026 · most notably Will v. Michigan Department of State Police (1989), Farrar v. Hobby (1992)
1,882 federal appellate · 2,342 district · 754 state decisions — followed in 45 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
reviewedMcKinney v. Baron Drawn Steel Corp (from Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals)
Relationships
Applies 42 U.S.C. § 1983 (Civil Rights Act of 1871 / Section 1983 (Ku Klux Klan Act)) · 42 U.S.C. § 1988
Relies on Monell v. Department of Social Services of City of New York · Harlow v. Fitzgerald · Scheuer v. Rhodes · Hensley v. Eckerhart · Ex Parte: Edward T Young
Cited together with Monell v. Department of Social Services of City of New York · Harlow v. Fitzgerald · Will v. Michigan Department of State Police · Ex Parte: Edward T Young · Edelman v. Jordan
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 10,638 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.
“generally represent only another way of pleading an action against an entity of which an officer is an agent.”
359 later decisions quote this exact passage · from the majority“official-capacity actions for prospective relief are not treated as actions against the State.”
94 later decisions quote this exact passage · from the concurrence“[L]iability on the merits and responsibility for fees go hand in hand; where a defendant has not been prevailed against, either because of legal immunity or on the merits, § 1988 does not authorize a fee award against that defendant.”
17 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.