The Wilderness Society v. Rogers C. B. Morton, Secretary of the Interior’s Empirical Analysis
479 F.2d 842 · 1973
Citation profile
114 federal appellate · 48 district · 9 state decisions
How this case has been cited
Cited by 246 later decisions (2 by the Supreme Court) — most recently June 2018 · most notably Alyeska Pipeline Service Company v. Wilderness Society (1975), Portland Cement Ass'n v. Ruckelshaus (1973)
114 federal appellate · 48 district · 9 state decisions
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
Applies 16 U.S.C. § 497 · 16 U.S.C. § 551 (Wildfire Disaster Recovery Act of 1989) · 25 U.S.C. § 313 · 25 U.S.C. § 321 · 28 U.S.C. § 2201 · 30 U.S.C. § 181 (Coal Market Competition Act of 2000) · 30 U.S.C. § 185 · 30 U.S.C. § 189
Relies on Abbott Laboratories v. Gardner · Skidmore v. Swift & Co. · Udall v. Tallman · Dandridge v. Williams · United States v. O'Brien
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 246 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.
“are not obliged to stand aside and rubber-stamp their affirmance of administrative decisions that they deem inconsistent with a statutory mandate or that frustrate the congressional policy underlying a statute.”
4 later decisions quote this exact passage · from the majority“well known maxim of statutory construction that all words and provisions of statutes are intended to have meaning and are to be given effect, and words of a statute are not to be construed as surplusage”
3 later decisions quote this exact passage · from the majority““On the contrary, since the only or principal dispute relates to the meaning of the statutory term, the controversy must ultimately be resolved, not on the basis of matters within the special competence of the Secretary, but by judicial application of canons of statutory construction. See Texas Gas Transmission Corp. v. Shell Oil Co., 363 U.S. 263, 268-70 , 80 S.Ct. 1122, 1126-1127 , 4 L.Ed.2d 1208 . ‘The role of the courts should, in particular, be viewed hospitably where . . . the question sought to be reviewed does not significantly engage the agency’s expertise. “Where the only or principal dispute relates to the meaning of the statutory term ...” (the controversy) presents issues on which courts, and not (administrators), are relatively more expert.’ Hardin v. Kentucky Utilities Co., 390 U.S. 1, 14 , 88 S.Ct. 651, 658-659 , 19 L.Ed.2d 787 (Harlan, J. dissenting).””
2 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.