Covington v. Cole’s Empirical Analysis
528 F.2d 1365 · 1976
Citation profile
40 federal appellate · 2 district · 3 state decisions
How this case has been cited
Cited by 53 later decisions — most recently March 2012 · most notably Gordon v. Leeke (1978), Fulford v. Klein (1977)
40 federal appellate · 2 district · 3 state decisions
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 28 U.S.C. § 1915 · 42 U.S.C. § 1983 (Civil Rights Act of 1871 / Section 1983 (Ku Klux Klan Act))
Relies on Anders v. California · Conley v. Gibson · Bivens v. Six Unknown Named Agents of Federal Bureau of Narcotics · Haines v. Kerner · Monroe v. Pape
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 53 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.
“The exhumation and resurrection of viable prisoner complaints which have been summarily given final rites and buried by district courts has become a major occupation of Jhis Court. We recognize that prisoner complaints often seem annoying and insubstantial, and that the volume of such complaints faced by most district courts would try the patience of Job. Job-like patience, however, should be the judicial benchmark in this area. Technical rigidity in reviewing pleadings must be eschewed, and we must remain extremely tolerant of the juristically unlearned as they seek to articulate their belief that they have suffered deprivations of constitutional rights. Covington v. Cole, 528 F.2d 1365 , 1373. (5th Cir. 1976).”
1 later decision 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.