O'Donnell v. Yanchulis’s Empirical Analysis
875 F.2d 1059 · 1989
Citation profile
35 federal appellate · 3 district · 2 state decisions
How this case has been cited
Cited by 57 later decisions — most recently June 2019 · most notably O'Connor v. Steeves (1993), Swineford v. Snyder County Pennsylvania (1994)
35 federal appellate · 3 district · 2 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 28 U.S.C. § 1291 · 42 U.S.C. § 1983 (Civil Rights Act of 1871 / Section 1983 (Ku Klux Klan Act))
Relies on Mt. Healthy City School District Board of Education v. Doyle · Pickering v. Board of Education of Township High School District 205 Will County Illinois · Connick v. Myers · Rankin v. McPherson · Bates v. State Bar
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 57 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.
“(1) ‘impair[ed] discipline by superiors’; (2) ‘impair[ed] ... harmony among coworkers’; (3) ‘ha[d] a detrimental impact on close working relationships for which personal loyalty and confidence are necessary’; (4) ‘impede[d] the performance of the speaker’s duties’; or (5) ‘interfere[d] with the regular operation of the enterprise.’ ... These interests are referred to collectively as ‘disruption.’”
4 later decisions quote this exact passage · from the majority“it would be absurd to hold that the First Amendment generally authorizes corrupt officials to punish subordinates who blow the whistle simply because the speech somewhat disrupted the office.”
3 later decisions quote this exact passage · from the majority“[t]he public has a significant interest in encouraging legitimate whistleblowing so that it may receive and evaluate information concerning the alleged abuses of ... public officials.”
3 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.