Adarand Constructors, Inc. v. Pena’s Empirical Analysis
1995
Citation profile
831 federal appellate · 338 district · 205 state decisions
How this case has been cited
Cited by 2,270 later decisions (87 by the Supreme Court) — most recently July 2025 · most notably City of Boerne v. Flores (1997), Agostini v. Felton Chancellor Board of Education of the City of New York (1997)
831 federal appellate · 338 district · 205 state decisions — followed in 31 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
reviewedAdarand Constructors, Inc. v. Pena (from Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals)
Relationships
Applies 15 U.S.C. § 631 (Business Opportunity Development Reform Act) · 15 U.S.C. § 637 · 15 U.S.C. § 644
Relies on Monell v. Department of Social Services of City of New York · Lujan v. Defenders of Wildlife · Monroe v. Pape · Buckley v. Valeo · City of Cleburne Texas v. Cleburne Living Center
Cited together with City of Richmond v. J. A. Croson Co. · Wygant v. Jackson Board of Education · Regents of the University of California v. Bakke · Lujan v. Defenders of Wildlife · Northeastern Florida Chapter of the Associated General Contractors of America v. City of Jacksonville
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 2,270 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.
“No State shall . . . deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.”
109 later decisions quote this exact passage“[A]ll racial classifications, imposed by whatever federal, state, or local governmental actor, must be analyzed by a reviewing court under strict scrutiny.”
29 later decisions quote this exact passage“narrowly tailored measure[ ] that further[s] compelling governmental interests.”
24 later decisions quote this exact passage · from the concurrence
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.