Rosenberg v. Richardson’s Empirical Analysis

Citation profile

38 federal appellate · 5 district · 1 state decisions

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 67 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.

1. “In any case where ... an applicant is not ... the widow [of an insured individual] but it is established to the satisfaction of the Secretary that such applicant in good faith went through a marriage ceremony with such individual resulting in a purported marriage between them which, but for a legal impediment not known to the applicant at the time of such ceremony, would have been a valid marriage, and such applicant and the insured individual were living in the same household at the time of the death of such insured individual ... then ... such purported marriage shall be deemed to be a valid marriage.... For the purposes of this subparagraph, a legal impediment to the validity of a purported marriage includes ... an impediment resulting from the lack of dissolution of a previous marriage. ...”

   4 later decisions quote this exact passage · from the majority
   e.g. Martin v. Harris · Thomas v. Sullivan

2. “Since state family law is often confused ... many women, whose husbands paid social security taxes for years, found themselves ineligible for the benefits intended for them, because marriages contracted in good faith were subsequently found invalid. To remedy this evil, Congress in I960 enacted subparagraph (B), permitting such women to be “deemed” wives for purposes of the Social Security Act.”

   2 later decisions quote this exact passage · from the majority
   e.g. Thomas v. Sullivan · Grabois v. Jones

3. “It is a familiar maxim of statutory interpretation that courts should enforce a law so as to achieve its overriding purpose, even if the words of the act leave room for a contrary interpretation. Haberman v. Finch, 418 F.2d 664, 666 (2d Cir. 1969). “[I]t is one of the surest indexes of a mature and developed jurisprudence not to make a fortress out of the dictionary; but to remember that statutes always have some purpose or object to accomplish, whose sympathetic and imaginative discovery is the surest guide to their meaning.” Cabell v. Markham, 148 F.2d 737, 739 (2d Cir.) (L. Hand, J.) affirmed, 326 U.S. 404 , 66 S.Ct. 193 , 90 L.Ed. 165 (1945). Congress intended the Social Security Act as a broad program of social insurance, on which working people could rely to provide for themselves and their dependents in old age. It is essential, therefore, that the Act be liberally construed and applied. Eisenhauer v. Matthews, 535 F.2d 681 at 685 (2d Cir. 1976); Adams v. Weinberger, 521 F.2d 656, 659 (2d Cir. 1975); Gold v. Secretary of Health, Education, and Welfare, 463 F.2d 38, 41 (2d Cir. 1972); Haberman v. Finch, supra at 667. Moreover, the Social Security System is one based on contributions, in which claimants are not recipients of “hand-outs”. They are, instead, beneficiaries of insured wage earners, “entitled to no less than a liberal and broad construction will allow.” Id. 538 F.2d at 490 .”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage · from the majority
   e.g. 423 F. Supp. 149 - Holmes Ex Rel. Thompson v. Weinberger