United States v. Playboy Entertainment Group, Inc.’s Empirical Analysis
2000
Citation profile
477 federal appellate · 197 district · 313 state decisions
How this case has been cited
Cited by 1,554 later decisions (58 by the Supreme Court) — most recently March 2026 · most notably Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission (2010), Ashcroft Attorney General v. Free Speech Coalition (2002)
477 federal appellate · 197 district · 313 state decisions — followed in 36 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 47 U.S.C. § 223 · 47 U.S.C. § 559 · 47 U.S.C. § 560 · 47 U.S.C. § 561
Relies on Hamling v. United States · Tinker v. Des Moines Independent Community School District · Roth v. United States · Ward v. Rock Against Racism · Miller v. California
Cited together with Ward v. Rock Against Racism · Turner Broadcasting System, Inc. v. Federal Communications Commission · Rav v. City of St Paul Minnesota · Reno v. American Civil Liberties Union · Leila Jeanne Hill Audrey Himmelmann Everitt Simpsons v. Colorado
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 1,554 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.
“When the Government restricts speech, the Government bears the burden of proving the constitutionality of its actions.”
17 later decisions quote this exact passage · from the majority“If a less restrictive alternative would serve the Government's purpose, the legislature must use that alternative.”
13 later decisions quote this exact passage · from the majority“[t]he distinction between laws burdening and laws banning speech is but a matter of degree.”). Utah's regulations still burden speech, even if they fall short of being a”
9 later decisions 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.