John Aldens v. Maine’s Empirical Analysis
1999
Citation profile
616 federal appellate · 259 district · 548 state decisions
How this case has been cited
Cited by 2,466 later decisions (91 by the Supreme Court) — most recently March 2026 · most notably District of Columbia v. Heller (2008), Board of Trustees of the University of Alabamas v. Patricia Garrett (2001)
616 federal appellate · 259 district · 548 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
Applies 29 U.S.C. § 201 · 29 U.S.C. § 216 · 42 U.S.C. § 1983 (Civil Rights Act of 1871 / Section 1983 (Ku Klux Klan Act))
Relies on Erie Co v. Tompkins · Scheuer v. Rhodes · Ex Parte: Edward T Young · Mt. Healthy City School District Board of Education v. Doyle · Edelman v. Jordan
Cited together with Seminole Tribe of Florida v. Florida · Ex Parte: Edward T Young · Hans v. State of Louisiana · College Savings Bank v. Florida Prepaid Postsecondary Education Expense Board · Edelman v. Jordan
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 2,466 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.
“We have ... sometimes referred to the States’ immunity from suit as “Eleventh Amendment immunity.” The phrase is convenient shorthand but something of a misnomer, for the sovereign immunity of the States neither derives from, nor is limited by, the terms of the Eleventh Amendment. Rather, as the Constitution’s structure, its history, and the authoritative interpretations by this Court make clear, the States’ immunity from suit is a fundamental aspect of the sovereignty which the States enjoyed before the ratification of the Constitution, and which they retain today ... except as altered by the plan of the Convention or certain constitutional Amendments.”
77 later decisions quote this exact passage · from the majority“The Judicial power of the United States shall not be construed to extend to any suit in law or equity, commenced or prosecuted against one of the United States by Citizens of another State, or by Citizens or Subjects of any Foreign State.”
32 later decisions quote this exact passage · from the dissente.g. No. 04-1138 · Thomas Bradley, as Natural Guardian Of, and on Behalf of David Bradley, a Minor Dianna Bradley, as Natural Guardian Of, and on Behalf of David Bradley, a Minor - United States of America, Intervenor on Appeal v. Arkansas Department of Education Mike Crowley, Individually and in His Capacity as an Employee of the Arkansas Department of Education - Williford School District 39 John Does, 1-10, Advocacy Services, Inc., Amicus Curiae. Jim C, Individually and as Parent and Next Friend of J.C. Susan C, Individually and as Parent and Next Friend of J.C. - United States of America, Intervenor on Appeal v. Atkins School District Arch Ford Education Service Cooperative Arkansas Department of Education“`[s]uits brought by the United States itself require the exercise of political responsibility for each suit prosecuted against a State, a control which is absent from a broad delegation to private persons to sue nonconsenting States.'”
16 later decisions quote this exact passage · from the dissent
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.