Bragdon v. Abbott’s Empirical Analysis
1998
Citation profile
751 federal appellate · 543 district · 134 state decisions
How this case has been cited
Cited by 2,596 later decisions (33 by the Supreme Court) — most recently June 2025 · most notably United States v. Mead Corp. (2001), Karen Sutton Kimberly Hintons v. United Air Lines Inc (1999)
751 federal appellate · 543 district · 134 state decisions — followed in 27 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
reviewedAbbott v. Bragdon (from First Circuit Court of Appeals)
Relationships
Relies on Anderson v. Liberty Lobby, Inc. · Chevron U. S. A. Inc. v. Natural Resources Defense Council, Inc. · Skidmore v. Swift & Co. · Dandridge v. Williams · General Electric Co. v. Joiner
Cited together with Anderson v. Liberty Lobby, Inc. · Karen Sutton Kimberly Hintons v. United Air Lines Inc · Celotex Corporation v. Catrett H · Toyota Motor Manufacturing, Kentucky, Inc. v. Williams · McDonnell Douglas Corp. v. Green
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 2,596 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.
“[a]ny physiological disorder, or condition, cosmetic disfigurement, or anatomical loss affecting one or more of the following body systems: neurological, musculoskeletal, special sense organs, respiratory (including speech organs), cardiovascular, reproductive, digestive, genito-urinary, hemic and lymphatic, skin, and endocrine.”
149 later decisions quote this exact passage“When administrative and judicial interpretations have settled the meaning of an existing statutory provision, repetition of the same language in a new statute indicates, as a general matter, the intent to incorporate its administrative and judicial interpretations as well.”
16 later decisions quote this exact passage · from the majority“with respect to an individual[,] ... a physical ... impairment that substantially limits one or more major life activities of such individual.”
15 later decisions quote this exact passage
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.