State v. Tester’s Empirical Analysis
1994
Citation profile
3 federal appellate · 22 state decisions
How this case has been cited
Cited by 28 later decisions — most recently May 2019 · most notably Riggs v. Burson (1997), In Re Swanson (1999)
3 federal appellate · 22 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
Relies on Baker v. Carr · Griswold v. State of Connecticut · San Antonio Independent School District v. Rodriguez · Shapiro v. Thompson · Harrison v. Schrader
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 28 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.
“[T]he classification must not be mere arbitrary selection. It must have some basis which bears a natural and reasonable relation to the object sought to be accomplished, and there must be some good and valid reason why the particular individual or class upon whom the benefit is conferred, or who are subject to the burden imposed, not given to or imposed upon others should be so preferred or discriminated against. There must be reasonable and substantial differences in the situation and circumstances of the persons placed in different classes which disclose the propriety and necessity of the classification. If legislation arbitrarily confers upon one class benefits, from which others in a like situation are excluded, it is a grant of a special right, privilege, or immunity, prohibited by the Constitution, and a denial of the equal protection of the laws to those not included .... The fundamental rule is that all classification must be based upon substantial distinctions which make one class really different from another; and the characteristics which form the basis of the classification must be germane to the purpose of the law ....”
4 later decisions quote this exact passage“Equal protection constitutional provisions guarantee that “ ‘all persons similarly circumstanced shall be treated alike.’ ” Tennessee Small Sch. Sys. v. McWherter, 851 S.W.2d 139, 153 (Tenn.1993) (quoting F.S. Royster Guano Co. v. Virginia, 253 U.S. 412, 415 , 40 S.Ct. 560, 562 , 64 L.Ed. 989 (1920)). This Court has said: The initial discretion to determine what is ‘different’ and what is ‘the same’ resides in the legislatures of the States, and legislatures are given considerable latitude in determining what groups are different and what groups are the same.... In most instances the judicial inquiry into the legislative choice is limited to whether the classifications have a reasonable relationship to a legitimate state interest.”
3 later decisions quote this exact passage“General laws only to be passed.— The Legislature shall have no power to suspend any general law for the benefit of any particular individual, nor to pass any law for the benefit of individuals inconsistent with the general laws of the land; nor to pass any law granting to any individual or individuals, rights, privileges, immunitie, [immunities] or exemptions other than such as may be, by the same law extended to any member of the community, who may be able to bring himself within the provisions of such law.”
3 later decisions quote this exact passage
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.