Christensen v. Harris County’s Empirical Analysis
2000
Citation profile
1,530 federal appellate · 511 district · 215 state decisions
How this case has been cited
Cited by 4,019 later decisions (57 by the Supreme Court) — most recently December 2025 · most notably National Railroad Passenger Corporation v. Morgan (2002), United States v. Mead Corp. (2001)
1,530 federal appellate · 511 district · 215 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
reviewedMoreau v. Harris County (from Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals)
Relationships
Relies on Chevron U. S. A. Inc. v. Natural Resources Defense Council, Inc. · Skidmore v. Swift & Co. · Auer v. Robbins · Bowen v. Georgetown University Hospital
Cited together with Chevron U. S. A. Inc. v. Natural Resources Defense Council, Inc. · Skidmore v. Swift & Co. · United States v. Mead Corp. · Auer v. Robbins · Anderson v. Liberty Lobby, Inc.
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 4,019 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.
“[i]nterpretations such as those in opinion letters — like interpretations contained in policy statements, agency manuals, and enforcement guidelines, all of which lack the force of law — do not warrant Chevron -style deference.”
185 later decisions quote this exact passage · from the majority“Auer deference is warranted only when the language of the regulation is ambiguous.”
41 later decisions quote this exact passage · from the majority“a body of experience and informed judgment”
25 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.