Famous passages
The most-quoted passages in American case law, derived from 965,153 resolved pinpoint citations across 189,610 passages cited at least three times (the harvester saw 1,387,980 distinct quotations in all). Click any row to see every case that used the passage, search the full quotation corpus →, or see what's surging in recent citations →
#51 · 247 pin-citations
· 247 cases
“[A] civil plaintiff may be deprived of his claim if he failed to see to it that his lawyer acted with dispatch in the prosecution of his lawsuit.”
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Link v. Wabash Railroad, 1962 · Supreme Court
#52 · 246 pin-citations
· 105 cases
"Subjective intentions [of the law enforcement officer] play no role in ordinary, probable-cause Fourth Amendment analysis."
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Whren v. United States, 1996 · Supreme Court
#53 · 245 pin-citations
· 105 cases
"The loss of First Amendment freedoms, for even minimal periods of time, unquestionably constitutes irreparable injury."
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Elrod v. Burns, 1976 · Supreme Court
#54 · 240 pin-citations
· 160 cases
“Henness II”
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In re Ohio Execution Protocol Litig., 2019 · Sixth Circuit
#55 · 240 pin-citations
· 240 cases
“The search for substantial evidence is thus a qualitative exercise without which our review of social security disability cases ceases to be merely deferential and becomes instead a sham.”
#56 · 239 pin-citations
· 239 cases
“The Secretary’s determination as to the status of a claim requires the correct application of the law to the facts.”
#57 · 234 pin-citations
· 115 cases
" Where no authorities are cited in support of a proposition, the court is not required to search out authorities, but may assume that counsel, after diligent search, has found none. "
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DeHeer v. Seattle Post-Intelligencer, 1962 · Washington Supreme Court
#58 · 231 pin-citations
· 100 cases
"If the intent of Congress is clear, that is the end of the matter; for the Court, as well as the agency, must give effect to the unambiguously expressed intent of Congress."
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Chevron U. S. A. Inc. v. Natural Resources Defense Council, Inc., 1984 · Supreme Court
#59 · 230 pin-citations
· 219 cases
“Judges are not like pigs, hunting for truffles buried in briefs.”
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United States v. James C. Dunkel, 1991 · Seventh Circuit
#60 · 230 pin-citations
· 88 cases
"Rule 12(b)(6) does not countenance ... dismissals based on a judge's disbelief of a complaint's factual allegations"
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Neitzke v. Williams, 1989 · Supreme Court
#61 · 229 pin-citations
· 122 cases
“The Eleventh Amendment protects States and their arms and instrumentalities from suit in federal court[.]”
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Edelman v. Jordan, 1974 · Supreme Court
#62 · 229 pin-citations
· 229 cases
"uniquely in this Circuit, the Daubert factors have been employed also as an acceptable evidentiary-gauging tool with respect to persuasiveness of expert testimony already admitted"
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Davis v. Secretary of Health & Human Services, 2010 · Federal Claims
#63 · 228 pin-citations
· 183 cases
"Vigorous cross-examination, presentation of contrary evidence, and careful instruction on the burden of proof are the traditional and appropriate means of attacking shaky but admissible evidence."
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Daubert v. Merrell Dow Pharmaceuticals, Inc., 1993 · Supreme Court
#64 · 226 pin-citations
· 170 cases
"The evidence of the non-movant is to be believed, and all justifiable inferences are to be drawn in his favor."
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Anderson v. Liberty Lobby, Inc., 1986 · Supreme Court
#65 · 224 pin-citations
· 87 cases
"A fundamental and longstanding principle of judicial restraint requires that courts avoid reaching constitutional questions in advance of the necessity of deciding them."
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Lyng v. Northwest Indian Cemetery Protective Assn., 1988 · Supreme Court
#66 · 221 pin-citations
· 221 cases
"As a general rule, an amended pleading ordinarily supersedes the original and renders it of no legal effect."
#67 · 221 pin-citations
· 221 cases
“When a litigant knowingly and repeatedly refuses to conform his pleadings to the requirements of the Federal Rules, it is reasonable to conclude that the litigant simply cannot state a claim.”
#68 · 219 pin-citations
· 204 cases
"[i]t has generally been held that oral testimony which is in conflict with contemporaneous documents is entitled to little evidentiary weight."
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United States v. United States Gypsum Co., 1948 · Supreme Court
#69 · 217 pin-citations
· 217 cases
"like any norm based upon common sense and experience, this rule should not be treated as an absolute and must yield where the factual predicates for its application are weak or lacking"
#70 · 217 pin-citations
· 216 cases
“Official-capacity suits . . . ‘generally represent only another way of pleading an action against an entity of which an officer is an agent.’”
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Kentucky v. Graham, 1985 · Supreme Court
#71 · 216 pin-citations
· 109 cases
" '[W]here Congress includes particular language in one section of a statute but omits it in another section of the same Act, it is generally presumed that Congress acts intentionally and purposely in the disparate inclusion or exclusion.' "
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Russello v. United States, 1983 · Supreme Court
#72 · 216 pin-citations
· 216 cases
“The record does not contain a consent from the defendants[; h]owever, because they had not been served, they were not parties to th[e] action at the time the magistrate entered judgment.”
#73 · 215 pin-citations
· 169 cases
"[T]o state a claim in federal court, a complaint must explain what each defendant did to him or her; when the defendant did it; how the defendant's action harmed him or her; and, what specific legal right the plaintiff believes the defendant violated."
#74 · 213 pin-citations
· 205 cases
"Factual allegations must be enough to raise a right to relief above the speculative level"
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Bell Atlantic Corp. v. Twombly, 2007 · Supreme Court
#75 · 212 pin-citations
· 211 cases
“A municipality or other local government may be liable under this section [1983] if the governmental body itself ‘subjects’ a person to a deprivation of rights or ‘causes’ a person ‘to be subjected’ to such deprivation.”
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Connick v. Thompson, 2011 · Supreme Court
#76 · 212 pin-citations
· 83 cases
"A point not urged in the trial court, unless it goes to the jurisdiction of that court, is deemed to have been waived and will not be considered on appeal."
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Old Aztec Mine, Inc. v. Brown, 1981 · Nevada Supreme Court
#77 · 211 pin-citations
· 209 cases
“[E]ach Government official, his or her title notwithstanding, is only liable for his or her own misconduct.”
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Ashcroft v. Iqbal, 2009 · Supreme Court
#78 · 210 pin-citations
· 210 cases
“[B]ecause pro se means to appear for one’s self, a person may not appear on another person’s behalf in the other’s cause”
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William G. Iannaccone v. Marie Law, 1998
#79 · 210 pin-citations
· 89 cases
" 'Questions which merely lurk in the record, neither brought to the attention of the court nor ruled upon, are not to be considered as having been so decided as to constitute precedents.' "
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Webster v. Fall, 1925 · Supreme Court
#80 · 208 pin-citations
· 183 cases
"Medical malpractice does not become a constitutional violation merely because the victim is a prisoner."
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Estelle v. Gamble, 1976 · Supreme Court
#81 · 207 pin-citations
· 207 cases
“[C]ourts may dismiss under Rule 41(b) sua sponte, at least under certain circumstances.”
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Hells Canyon Preservation Council v. U.S. Forest Service, 2005 · Ninth Circuit
#82 · 207 pin-citations
· 169 cases
"[A] private citizen lacks a judicially cognizable interest in the prosecution or nonprosecution of another."
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Linda RS v. Richard D., 1973 · Supreme Court
#83 · 205 pin-citations
· 205 cases
“It is within the inherent power of the court to sua sponte dismiss a case for lack of prosecution.”
#84 · 204 pin-citations
· 134 cases
“The tenet that a court must accept as true all of the allegations contained in a complaint is inapplicable to legal conclusions.”
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Ashcroft v. Iqbal, 2009 · Supreme Court
#85 · 204 pin-citations
· 201 cases
"this court has unambiguously explained that special masters are expected to consider the credibility of expert witnesses in evaluating petitions for compensation under the Vaccine Act"
#86 · 202 pin-citations
· 112 cases
"'It is emphatically the province and duty of the judicial department to say what the law is.'"
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Marbury v. Madison, 1803
#87 · 200 pin-citations
· 200 cases
“It is well settled in this Circuit that personal involvement of defendants in the alleged constitutional deprivations is a prerequisite to an award of damages under § 1983.”
#88 · 200 pin-citations
· 100 cases
“It is within the court’s discretion to grant an improvement period within the applicable statutory requirements . . . . ”
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In Re Katie S., 1996 · West Virginia Supreme Court
#89 · 199 pin-citations
· 98 cases
“Adversary proceedings filed in the same bankruptcy case do not constitute different cases.”
#90 · 194 pin-citations
· 166 cases
"[T]he tenet that a court must accept as true all of the allegations contained in a complaint is inapplicable to legal conclusions."
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Ashcroft v. Iqbal, 2009 · Supreme Court
#91 · 193 pin-citations
· 192 cases
“It is well-established that an amended complaint supersedes an original complaint and renders the original complaint without legal effect”
#92 · 193 pin-citations
· 117 cases
“[A] judge's function at summary judgment is not to weigh the evidence and determine the truth of the matter but to determine whether there is a genuine issue for trial.”
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Tolan v. Cotton, 2014 · Supreme Court
#93 · 193 pin-citations
· 191 cases
"medical records and medical opinion testimony are favored in vaccine cases, as treating physicians are likely to be in the best position to determine whether a 'logical sequence of cause and effect show[s] that the vaccination was the reason for the injury'"
#94 · 192 pin-citations
· 81 cases
"Certainly, if the federal claims are dismissed before trial, even though not insubstantial in a jurisdictional sense, the state claims should be dismissed as well."
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United Mine Workers of America v. Gibbs, 1966 · Supreme Court
#95 · 192 pin-citations
· 75 cases
"The plainness or ambiguity of statutory language is determined by reference to the language itself, the specific context in which that language is used, and the broader context of the statute as a whole."
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Robinson v. Shell Oil Co., 1997 · Supreme Court
#96 · 191 pin-citations
· 182 cases
“Perfunctory and undeveloped arguments are waived, as are arguments unsupported by legal authority.”
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Joseph Krell v. Andrew M. Saul, 2019 · Seventh Circuit
#97 · 190 pin-citations
· 190 cases
“[W]e regard Doe 3’s expectation of privacy for sharing copyrighted music through an online file-sharing network as simply insufficient to permit him to avoid having to defend against a claim of copyright infringement.”
#98 · 189 pin-citations
· 189 cases
“When the magistrate provides such notice and a party still fails to object to the findings of fact [and law] and those findings are adopted by the district court the party may not challenge them on appeal in the absence of plain error or manifest injustice.”
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Resolution Trust Corporation v. Hallmark Builders, Inc., 1993 · Eleventh Circuit
#99 · 188 pin-citations
· 180 cases
"In this circuit, theories raised for the first time in objections to the magistrate judge's report are deemed waived."
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United States v. Garfinkle, 2001 · Tenth Circuit
#100 · 187 pin-citations
· 187 cases
“the assessment of pain and suffering is inherently a subjective evaluation”