Cleavinger v. Saxner’s Empirical Analysis
1985
Citation profile
479 federal appellate · 257 district · 110 state decisions
How this case has been cited
Cited by 1,562 later decisions (13 by the Supreme Court) — most recently June 2025 · most notably Buckley v. Fitzsimmons (1993), Mireles v. Waco (1991)
479 federal appellate · 257 district · 110 state decisions — followed in 26 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
reviewedSaxner v. Benson (from Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals)
Relationships
Relies on Harlow v. Fitzgerald · Scheuer v. Rhodes · Bivens v. Six Unknown Named Agents of Federal Bureau of Narcotics · Morrissey v. Brewer · Wolff v. McDonnell
Cited together with Butz v. Economou · Harlow v. Fitzgerald · Imbler v. Pachtman · Forrester v. White · Stump v. Sparkman
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 1,562 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.
“(a) the need to assure that the individual can perform his functions without harassment or intimidation; (b) the presence of safeguards that reduce the need for private damages actions as a means of controlling unconstitutional conduct; (c) insulation from political influence; (d) the importance of precedent; (e) the adversary nature of the process; and (f) the correctability of error on appeal.”
68 later decisions quote this exact passage · from the majority“d[id] not perceive the discipline committee's function as a 'classic' adjudicatory one....”
21 later decisions quote this exact passage · from the majority“Judicial immunity applies 'however erroneous the act may have been, and however injurious in its consequences it may have proved to the plaintiff.'”
12 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.