Cummings v. The State of Missouri’s Empirical Analysis
71 U.S. 277 · 1866
Citation profile
234 federal appellate · 79 district · 249 state decisions
How this case has been cited
Cited by 939 later decisions (101 by the Supreme Court) — most recently July 2024 · most notably Bell v. Wolfish (1979), Griswold v. State of Connecticut (1965)
234 federal appellate · 79 district · 249 state decisions — followed in 43 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.
Relationships
Relies on Rutherford v. Geddes · Lawson v. Moore
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 939 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.
“which imposes a punishment for an act which was not punishable at the time it was committed; or imposes additional punishment to that then prescribed.”
36 later decisions quote this exact passage · from the majority“"The deprivation of any rights, civil or political, previously enjoyed, may be punishment; the circumstances attending and the causes of the deprivation determining this fact. Disqualification from office may be punishment, as in cases of conviction upon impeachment. Disqualification from the pursuits of a lawful avocation, or from positions of trust, or from the privilege of appearing in the courts, or acting as an executor, administrator, or guardian, may also, and often has been, imposed as punishment.” Cummings, 71 U.S. (4 Wall.) at 320 , 18 L. Ed. at 362 .”
12 later decisions quote this exact passage · from the majority“inhibition [of the Bill of Attainder Clause] was levelled at the thing, not the name. It intended that the rights of the citizen should be secure against deprivation for past conduct by legislative enactment, under any form, however disguised.”
11 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.