Sims v. Central Intelligence Agency’s Empirical Analysis
642 F.2d 562 · 1980
Citation profile
24 federal appellate · 31 district · 2 state decisions
How this case has been cited
Cited by 73 later decisions (2 by the Supreme Court) — most recently February 2024 · most notably Central Intelligence Agency v. Sims (1985), Fitzgibbon v. Central Intelligence Agency (1990)
24 federal appellate · 31 district · 2 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
Relationships
Applies 28 U.S.C. § 293 · 50 U.S.C. § 401 (§ 2 of the National Security Act of 1947) · 50 U.S.C. § 403 (§ 102 of the National Security Act of 1947) · 50 U.S.C. § 403G (Servicemembers Civil Relief Act) · 5 U.S.C. § 552 (Freedom of Information Act) · 7 U.S.C. § 1 (CFTC Reauthorization Act of 1995)
Relies on Skidmore v. Swift & Co. · Albemarle Paper Co. v. Moody · Department of the Air Force v. Rose · Environmental Protection Agency v. Mink · Harris v. McRae
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 73 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.
“[A]n 'intelligence source' is a person or institution that provides, has provided, or has been engaged to provide the CIA with information of a kind the Agency needs to perform its intelligence function effectively, yet could not reasonably expect to obtain without guaranteeing the confidentiality of those who provide it.”
4 later decisions quote this exact passage · from the concurrence“Exemption 6 was developed to protect intimate details of personal and family life, not business judgments and relationships. Surely it was not intended to shield matters of such clear public concern as the names of those entering into contract with the federal government.”
4 later decisions quote this exact passage · from the concurrence“[T]he Agency shall be exempted from the provisions ... of any ... law which require[s] the publication or disclosure of the organization, functions, names, official titles, salaries, or numbers of personnel employed by the Agency.”
2 later decisions quote this exact passage · from the concurrence
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.