Mistretta v. United States’s Empirical Analysis
1989
Citation profile
2,598 federal appellate · 437 district · 384 state decisions
How this case has been cited
Cited by 4,962 later decisions (166 by the Supreme Court) — most recently June 2026 · most notably United States v. Booker (2004), Apprendi v. New Jersey (2000)
2,598 federal appellate · 437 district · 384 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.
Relationships
Relies on Morrissey v. Brewer · Buckley v. Valeo · Northern Pipeline Construction Co. v. Marathon Pipe Line Co. · United States v. Nixon · Flast v. Cohen
Cited together with McMillan v. Pennsylvania · Buckley v. Valeo · Stinson v. United States · Immigration & Naturalization Service v. Chadha · Apprendi v. New Jersey
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 4,962 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.
“almost never felt qualified to second-guess Congress regarding the permissible degree of policy judgment that can be left to those executing or applying the law.”
118 later decisions quote this exact passage · from the majority““In determining what [Congress] may do in seeking assistance from another branch, the extent and character of that assistance must be fixed according to common sense and the inherent necessities of the government coordination.” So long as Congress “shall lay down an intelligible principle to which the person or body authorized to [exercise the delegated authority] is directed to conform, such legislative action is not a forbidden delegation of legislative power.””
44 later decisions quote this exact passage · from the majority“While the Constitution diffuses power the better to secure liberty, it also contemplates that practice will integrate the dispersed powers into a workable government. It enjoins upon its branches separateness but interdependence, autonomy but reciprocity.”
39 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.