V Harry E Beck Jr et al.’s Empirical Analysis
1988
Citation profile
329 federal appellate · 89 district · 42 state decisions
How this case has been cited
Cited by 820 later decisions (40 by the Supreme Court) — most recently July 2025 · most notably Air Line Pilots Ass'n v. O'Neill (1991), Webster v. Reproductive Health Services (1989)
329 federal appellate · 89 district · 42 state decisions — followed in 11 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
reviewedBeck v. Communications Workers of America (from Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals)
Relationships
Applies 29 U.S.C. § 152 (§ 2 of the National Labor Relations Act) · 29 U.S.C. § 158 (§ 8 of the National Labor Relations Act) · 29 U.S.C. § 159 (§ 9 of the National Labor Relations Act) · 2 U.S.C. § 441B (§ 316 of the Federal Election Campaign Act of 1971) · 45 U.S.C. § 152 (Railway Labor Act)
Relies on Chevron U. S. A. Inc. v. Natural Resources Defense Council, Inc. · Vaca v. Sipes · San Diego Building Trades Council v. Garmon · Russello v. United States · Crowell v. Benson
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 820 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.
“only those fees and dues necessary to 'performing the duties of an exclusive representative of the employees in dealing with the employer on labor-management issues.'”
14 later decisions quote this exact passage · from the majority“fairly possible to interpret the statute in a manner that renders it constitutionally valid.”
14 later decisions quote this exact passage · from the majoritye.g. Vargas v. Owens · Fed. Sec. L. Rep. P 97,414 Julius Gray Leroy William Rodewald, United States of America, Intervenor v. First Winthrop Corporation Winthrop Financial Co. Inc. General Electric Company Peat Marwick Main & Company, Julius Gray Leroy William Rodewald, United States of America, Intervenor v. First Winthrop Corporation, Inc. Winthrop Financial Co. Inc. Peat Marwick Main & Company, Stephen Cope France Bolei Paul Costa Donald Fuller, on Behalf of Themselves and the Class They Represent, United States of America, Intervenor v. Price Waterhouse Kenneth Leventhal & Company Stephen Roulac, Jerry Simon, Donna Simon Herman Amaral Rose Amaral Roy Banogli Robert Kittle Linda Kittle, United States of America, Intervenors v. Neil A. Orsi Gene Koon E. Leo Bullock Provident Mutual Life Securities Co.“The statutory question presented in this case, then, is whether [a dissenter's obligation to support the union] includes the obligation to support union activities beyond those germane to collective bargaining, contract administration, and grievance adjustment. We think it does not.”
13 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.