Kitchen v. Herbert’s Empirical Analysis
755 F.3d 1193 · 2014
Citation profile
16 federal appellate · 13 district · 9 state decisions
How this case has been cited
Cited by 68 later decisions (2 by the Supreme Court) — most recently June 2025 · most notably 135 S. Ct. 2584 - Obergefell v. Hodges (2015), Obergefell v. Hodges (2015)
16 federal appellate · 13 district · 9 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
reviewedthe decision below (from Utah District Court)
Relationships
Applies 1 U.S.C. § 7 · 28 U.S.C. § 1291 · 28 U.S.C. § 1331 · 28 U.S.C. § 1738C · 42 U.S.C. § 1983 (Civil Rights Act of 1871 / Section 1983 (Ku Klux Klan Act))
Relies on Ex Parte: Edward T Young · City of Cleburne Texas v. Cleburne Living Center · Stanley v. Illinois · Turner v. Safley · Pierson v. Ray
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 68 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.
“[I]t is wholly illogical to believe that state recognition of the love and commitment between same-sex couples will alter the most intimate and personal decisions of opposite-sex couples”
2 later decisions quote this exact passage · from the concurrence“The Governor and Attorney General have explicitly taken the position in this litigation that they “have ample authority to ensure that” the Salt Lake County Clerk “retum[s] to her former practice of limiting marriage licenses to man-woman couples in compliance with Utah law.” This assertion is supported by the Utah Code. The Governor is statutorily charged with “supervising] the official conduct of all executive and ministerial officers” and “seeing] that all offices are filled and the duties thereof performed.” § 67-1-1(1) & (2). In addition, he “may require the attorney general to aid any county attorney or district attorney in the discharge of his duties.” § 67-1-1(7).”
1 later decision quote this exact passage · from the majority“The framers of the Constitution knew, and we should not forget today, that there is no more effective practical guaranty against arbitrary and unreasonable government than to require that the principles of law which officials would impose upon a minority must be imposed generally. Conversely, nothing opens the door to arbitrary action so effectively as to allow those officials to pick and choose only a few to whom they will apply legislation and thus to escape the political retribution that might be visited upon them if larger numbers were affected.”
1 later decision quote this exact passage · from the dissent
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.