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states

Definitions from Case Law · United States Supreme Court

Definitions from Case Law

From 501 U.S. 560 - Barnes v. Glen Theatre, Inc. · 1991Most cited · 1,541 citing opinions

the authority to provide for the public health, safety, and morals, and we have upheld such a basis for legislation.

How the Supreme Court has restated “states”

1889190019251950197520002022 most cited: 501 U.S. 560 - Barnes v. Glen Theatre, Inc. (1991)
first stateddeparted

Each Supreme Court definition of “states,” sized by how often later courts cited it. “Change” is measured by wording overlap with earlier definitions — a rough signal, not a semantic judgment.

How often courts cite the cases defining “states”

18801900192519501975200020252030679

Court decisions citing the 6 opinions that defined “states” — 1,998 in all, by decade. Counts are citations to the defining cases as a whole, not verified uses of the term. The dip in the most recent years is a data-coverage gap, not a real trend — our corpus holds fewer opinions from the latest years.

All 6 definitions, chronological · 1889–2022

  1. the states of the Union.

  2. any water which is released from reservoirs for use on lands under canals having storage contracts in addition to the water which is discharged through those reservoirs to meet natural flow uses permitted by this decree

  3. the middle of the deepest or most navigable channel, as distinguished from the geographic center or a line midway between the banks.

  4. any coming of an alien into the United States, from a foreign port or place." 8 U. S. C. §1101 (a)(13) (1988 ed.).

  5. a uniformed service, §410(m), so whether the uniformed-services exception applies depends on whether Babcock's technician work was service "as" a member of the National Guard.