Matlock v. Barnes’s Empirical Analysis
932 F.2d 658 · 1991
Citation profile
20 federal appellate ·
How this case has been cited
Cited by 47 later decisions — most recently September 2017 · most notably Littlefield v. McGuffey (1992), Haley v. Gross (1996)
20 federal appellate ·
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)) · 42 U.S.C. § 1988
Relies on Monell v. Department of Social Services of City of New York · Hensley v. Eckerhart · Mt. Healthy City School District Board of Education v. Doyle · Kentucky v. Graham · Elrod v. Burns
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 47 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.
“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.”
1 later decision quote this exact passage · from the majority“In political patronage cases, defendants bear the burden of establishing that political affiliation is an appropriate qualification for the job from which plaintiff is ousted.”
1 later decision quote this exact passage · from the majority“a newly elected administration has a legitimate interest in implementing the broad policies it was elected to implement without interference from disloyal employees.”
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.