Webb v. Bowen’s Empirical Analysis

Citation profile

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

1. “The court does sympathize with plaintiff, as it appears from correspondence in the record that plaintiff is exasperated with the legal processes required to establish the date on which her retirement benefits should have begun. It may seem relatively simple for the Social Security Administration to simply accede to a claimant’s persistent assertions in cases such as this, where a mere one year’s worth of retirement benefits is at stake. Millions of Americans turn retirement age each year, however, and the taxpayers have a very large stake in the Secretary’s quest to establish the true entitlement of each claimant. The court cannot fault the government for jealously guarding the disbursement of Social Security funds.”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage · from the majority
   e.g. Pha v. Chater

2. “[vjiewing the evidence as a whole, the court must agree that the substantial evidence establishes a birth year of at least 1920, possibly 1921. No one piece of evidence can be given any greater weight than another; the documents appear to be equally unreliable and equally inconsistent. ... [T]o the extent that any substantial evidence of plaintiffs age exists, the court does not believe that the Secretary’s final decision is inconsistent with it.”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage · from the majority
   e.g. Pha v. Chater