Department of Transportation v. Public Citizen’s Empirical Analysis
2004
Citation profile
380 federal appellate · 308 district · 17 state decisions
How this case has been cited
Cited by 1,132 later decisions (6 by the Supreme Court) — most recently May 2025 · most notably Winter v. Natural Resources Defense Council, Inc. (2008), National Ass'n of Home Builders v. Defenders of Wildlife (2007)
380 federal appellate · 308 district · 17 state decisions
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
reviewedPublic Citizen v. Department of Transportation (from Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals)
Relationships
Applies 42 U.S.C. § 4321 (§ 2 of the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969) · 42 U.S.C. § 4332 (§ 102 of the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969) · 42 U.S.C. § 7506 · 49 U.S.C. § 113 · 49 U.S.C. § 13902 · 5 U.S.C. § 706
Relies on Vermont Yankee Nuclear Power Corp. v. Natural Resources Defense Council, Inc. · Marsh v. Oregon Natural Resources Council · Lorillard v. Pons · Robertson v. Methow Valley Citizens Council · Baltimore Gas & Electric Co. v. Natural Resources Defense Council, Inc.
Cited together with Robertson v. Methow Valley Citizens Council · Marsh v. Oregon Natural Resources Council · Motor Vehicle Manufacturers Association of United States Inc v. State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance Company Consumer Alert · Vermont Yankee Nuclear Power Corp. v. Natural Resources Defense Council, Inc. · Baltimore Gas & Electric Co. v. Natural Resources Defense Council, 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 1,132 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.
“national policy [to] encourage productive and enjoyable harmony between man and his environment,”
33 later decisions quote this exact passage · from the majority“First, it ensures that the agency, in reaching its decision, will have available, and will carefully consider, detailed information concerning significant environmental impacts. Second, it guarantees that the relevant information will be made available to the larger audience that may also play a role in both the decisionmaking process and the implementation of that decision.”
14 later decisions quote this exact passage · from the majority“Persons challenging an agency's compliance with NEPA must `structure their participation so that it ... alerts the agency to the [parties'] position and contentions,' in order to allow the agency to give the issue meaningful consideration.”
13 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.