McConnell v. Adams’s Empirical Analysis

Citation profile

26 federal appellate · 4 district · 1 state decisions

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

1. “[The] ultimate inquiry is not whether the label “policymaker” or “confidential” fits a particular position; rather the question is whether the hiring authority can demonstrate that party affiliation is an appropriate requirement for the effective performance of the public office involved.”

   2 later decisions quote this exact passage
   e.g. 765 F. Supp. 1541 - Hicks v. Phipps · 933 F. Supp. 528 - Burns v. Brinkley

2. “Certainly, the appellees had no contractual right or contractually based expectation of reemployment. It does not follow, however, that the refusal to reemploy them did not violate their constitutional rights. The Supreme Court has consistently recognized that “even though a person has no ‘right’ to a valuable governmental benefit ... [the government] may not deny a benefit to a person on a basis that infringes his constitutionally protected interests.””

   1 later decision quote this exact passage
   e.g. Newsom v. Norris

3. “Public officials must consider the possible relevance of legal principles established in analogous factual contexts. However, in cases where there is a legitimate question whether those principles extend to the particular case before the court or whether the particular case might constitute an exception to those principles, the court should sustain a qualified immunity defense.”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage
   e.g. Alston v. Robinson