Browning-Ferris Industries of Vermont, Inc. v. Kelco Disposal, Inc.’s Empirical Analysis
1989
Citation profile
556 federal appellate · 130 district · 538 state decisions
How this case has been cited
Cited by 1,840 later decisions (63 by the Supreme Court) — most recently August 2025 · most notably Cooter & Gell v. Hartmarx Corp. (1990), Harmelin v. Michigan (1991)
556 federal appellate · 130 district · 538 state decisions — followed in 41 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
reviewedKelco Disposal, Inc. v. Browning-Ferris Industries of Vermont, Inc. (from Second Circuit Court of Appeals)
Relationships
Relies on Wolff v. McDonnell · Daniels v. Williams · Helicopteros Nacionales De Colombia, S. A. v. Hall · Gertz v. Robert Welch, Inc. · Dandridge v. Williams
Cited together with BMW of North America, Inc. v. Gore · Austin v. United States · United States v. Bajakajian · United States v. Halper · Pacific Mutual Life Insurance v. Haslip
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 1,840 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.
“Excessive bail shall not be required, nor excessive fines imposed, nor cruel and unusual punishments inflicted.”
28 later decisions quote this exact passage · from the majoritye.g. Reid v. Donelan · Fant v. State“to determine whether the jury's verdict is within the confines set by state law, and to determine, by reference to federal standards developed under Rule 59, whether a new trial or remittitur should be ordered.”
25 later decisions quote this exact passage · from the concurrence“constitutes 'payment to a sovereign as punishment for some offense.'”
17 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.