Crystal Fergusons v. City of Charleston’s Empirical Analysis
2001
Citation profile
243 federal appellate · 66 district · 326 state decisions
How this case has been cited
Cited by 837 later decisions (11 by the Supreme Court) — most recently December 2025 · most notably Ashcroft v. al-Kidd (2011), Ashcroft v. al-Kidd (2011)
243 federal appellate · 66 district · 326 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.
Appellate journey
reviewedthe decision below (from Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals)
Relationships
Applies 50 U.S.C. § 403 (Servicemembers Civil Relief Act)
Relies on Miranda v. State of Arizona Vignera · United States v. Calandra · Hoffa v. United States · New Jersey v. T. L. O. · Skinner v. Railway Labor Executives' Assn.
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 837 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.
“divorced from the State's general interest in law enforcement.”
49 later decisions quote this exact passage“[A] search unsupported by probable cause may be reasonable when special needs, beyond the normal need for law enforcement, make the warrant and probable-cause requirement impracticable.”
13 later decisions quote this exact passage · from the majority“[T]he gravity of the threat alone cannot be dispositive of questions concerning what means law enforcement officers may employ to pursue a given purpose. Rather, in determining whether individualized suspicion is required, we must consider the nature of the interests threatened and their connection to the particular law enforcement practices at issue. We are particularly reluctant to recognize exceptions to the general rule of individualized suspicion where governmental authorities primarily pursue their general crime control ends.”
4 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.