Swierkiewicz v. Sorema N. A.’s Empirical Analysis
2002
Citation profile
1,189 federal appellate · 2,744 district · 114 state decisions
How this case has been cited
Cited by 9,454 later decisions (28 by the Supreme Court) — most recently January 2026 · most notably Bell Atlantic Corp. v. Twombly (2007), Erickson v. Pardus (2007)
1,189 federal appellate · 2,744 district · 114 state decisions — followed in 22 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
reviewedAustin v. Ford Models, Inc. (from Second Circuit Court of Appeals)
Relationships
Applies 29 U.S.C. § 621 (§ 2 of the Age Discrimination in Employment Act of 1967) · 42 U.S.C. § 1983 (Civil Rights Act of 1871 / Section 1983 (Ku Klux Klan Act))
Relies on McDonnell Douglas Corp. v. Green · Conley v. Gibson · Texas Department of Community Affairs v. Burdine · Scheuer v. Rhodes · Hishon v. King & Spalding
Cited together with Conley v. Gibson · Bell Atlantic Corp. v. Twombly · Ashcroft v. Iqbal · McDonnell Douglas Corp. v. Green · Leatherman v. Tarrant County Narcotics Intelligence and Coordination Unit
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 9,454 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.
“Rule 8(a)'s simplified pleading standard applies to all civil actions, with limited exceptions.”
131 later decisions quote this exact passage · from the majority“a short and plain statement of the claim showing that the pleader is entitled to relief.”
57 later decisions quote this exact passage“give the defendant fair notice of what the plaintiff's claim is and the grounds upon which it rests.”
39 later decisions quote this exact passage
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.