Morton v. Nebraska’s Empirical Analysis
88 U.S. 660 · 1874
Citation profile
9 federal appellate · 4 district · 20 state decisions
How this case has been cited
Cited by 79 later decisions (22 by the Supreme Court) — most recently November 1974 · most notably Ashwander v. Tennessee Valley Authority (1936), Crowell v. Benson (1932)
9 federal appellate · 4 district · 20 state decisions — followed in 10 states
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.
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 79 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.
““It does not strengthen the case of the plaintiffs that they obtained certificates of entry, and that patents were subsequently issued on these certificates. It has been repeatedly decided by this court that patents for lands which have .been previously granted, reserved from sale, or appropriated are void. The executive officers have no authority to issue a patent for the lands in controversy, because they were not subject to entry, having been previously reserved, and this want of power may be proved by defendant in an action at law.””
3 later decisions quote this exact passage · from the majority““No lands on which are situated any known salines or mines shall be liable to entry under and by virtue of the provisions of this act.””
2 later decisions quote this exact passage · from the majority“The salines in this case were not hidden as mines often are, but were so encrusted with salt that they resembled `snow-covered lakes,' and were consequently not subject to preëmption.”
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.