Foucha v. Louisiana’s Empirical Analysis
1992
Citation profile
308 federal appellate · 133 district · 1,008 state decisions
How this case has been cited
Cited by 1,807 later decisions (29 by the Supreme Court) — most recently August 2025 · most notably Washington v. Glucksberg (1997), Heller v. Doe Ex Rel. Doe (1993)
308 federal appellate · 133 district · 1,008 state decisions — followed in 43 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 Mathews v. Eldridge · In the Matter of Samuel Winship · Daniels v. Williams · United States v. Salerno · Rochin v. People of California
Cited together with Addington v. Texas · Jones v. United States · Kansas v. Hendricks · United States v. Salerno · Mathews v. Eldridge
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 1,807 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.
“Freedom from bodily restraint has always been at the core of the liberty protected by the Due Process Clause from arbitrary governmental action.”
40 later decisions quote this exact passage · from the majority“[It is] unconstitutional for a State to continue to confine a harmless, mentally ill person.”
18 later decisions quote this exact passage · from the majority“[i]t is clear that commitment for any purpose constitutes a significant deprivation of liberty that requires due process protection.”
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.