Nicholson v. Gant’s Empirical Analysis
816 F.2d 591 · 1987
Citation profile
13 federal appellate · 4 state decisions
How this case has been cited
Cited by 31 later decisions — most recently September 2014 · most notably Hansen v. Soldenwagner (1994), Nolin v. Douglas County (1990)
13 federal appellate · 4 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.
Relationships
Applies 42 U.S.C. § 1983 (Civil Rights Act of 1871 / Section 1983 (Ku Klux Klan Act))
Relies on Board of Regents of State Colleges v. Roth · Morrissey v. Brewer · Mt. Healthy City School District Board of Education v. Doyle · Pickering v. Board of Education of Township High School District 205 Will County Illinois · Cleveland Board of Education v. Loudermill
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 31 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.
““On January 12, 1976, the plaintiff-appellee Tillie Nicholson (hereinafter Nicholson) was employed by the defendant-appellant Jackson County Commission (hereinafter Commission) under the CETA program. At the time of Nicholson’s initial employment, defendant Sam Gant, II (hereinafter Gant) was the Chairman of the Commission. In January, 1976, Gant sought reelection as the incumbent chairman, but he was defeated by Lawrence Sebring. In January, 1977, Sebring took over the position of Chairman of the Commission. During the Sebring administration, Nicholson transferred from the CETA program to regular employment with the Commission as the county clerk. Nicholson was later promoted to the position of assistant clerk [sic]. During the Sebring administration, the Commission changed the titles of its staff so that Nicholson’s former position of assistant clerk became assistant administrator. The Commission adopted a handbook of employee personnel policies which included the distinction between probationary employees and regular or permanent employees. ... In 1980, Gant again opposed Sebring in the election for Chairman of the Commission. Prior to the election primaries, a political rally was held in Scottsboro, the largest city in the county. Incumbent Chairman Sebring directed Nicholson to read a prepared statement at the rally supporting Sebring’s bid for reelection. Nicholson expressed her desire not to read the statement. At this point, Chairman Sebring responded [by saying] he w”
1 later decision quote this exact passage · from the majoritye.g. Carroll v. Buttram“The existence of a legitimate claim of entitlement to a property interest in continued employment is to be determined in accordance with state law.”
1 later decision 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.