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21 canonical passages across 16 cases, quoted by 213,665 opinions in total. These passages cluster together because the same opinions keep quoting them side by side: they state parts of one doctrine. The anchor passage is from Ashcroft v. Iqbal.
| # | Case | Flag | Canonical passage | Citers |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Ashcroft v. Iqbal Anchor | green | “threadbare recitals of the elements of a cause of action, supported by mere conclusory statements, do not suffice.” | 64,315 |
| 2 | Ashcroft v. Iqbal | green | “a claim has facial plausibility when the plaintiff pleads factual content that allows the court to draw the reasonable inference that the defendant is liable for the misconduct alleged.” | 41,897 |
| 3 | Bell Atlantic Corp. v. Twombly | green | “enough facts to state a claim to relief that is plausible on its face.” | 36,367 |
| 4 | Bell Atlantic Corp. v. Twombly | green | “more than labels and conclusions, and a formulaic recitation of the elements of a cause of action will not do.” | 20,755 |
| 5 | Bell Atlantic Corp. v. Twombly | green | “factual allegations must be enough to raise a right to relief above the speculative level.” | 20,183 |
| 6 | Ashcroft v. Iqbal | green | “the pleading standard rule 8 announces does not require 'detailed factual allegations,' but it demands more than an unadorned, the-defendant-unlawfully-harmed-me accusation.” | 9,663 |
| 7 | Erickson v. Pardus | green | “a document filed pro se is to be liberally construed, and a pro se complaint, however inartfully pleaded, must be held to less stringent standards than formal pleadings drafted by lawyers.” | 9,402 |
| 8 | West v. Atkins | green | “to state a claim under 1983, a plaintiff must allege the violation of a right secured by the constitution and laws of the united states, and must show that the alleged deprivation was committed by a person acting under color of state law.” | 4,314 |
| 9 | Louise Whitney v. State of New Mexico Charles Patrick, Employee of the State of New Mexico John/jane Doe, Unknown Employees of the State of New Mexico | green | “will not supply additional factual allegations to round out a plaintiff's complaint or construct a legal theory on a plaintiff's behalf.” | 1,374 |
| 10 | Mhammad Abu-Shawish v. United States | green | “the usual standard in civil cases is to allow defective pleadings to be corrected, especially in early stages, at least where amendment would not be futile.” | 1,139 |
| 11 | Robbins Ex Rel. Robbins v. Oklahoma Ex Rel. Department of Human Services | green | “to the scope of the allegations in a complaint: if they are so general that they encompass a wide swath of conduct, much of it innocent,” | 1,086 |
| 12 | Rode v. Dellarciprete | green | “a defendant in a civil rights action must have personal involvement in the alleged wrongs” | 891 |
| 13 | Swanson v. Citibank, N.A. | green | “a plaintiff must do better than putting a few words on paper that, in the hands of an imaginative reader, might suggest that something has happened to her that might be redressed by the law.” | 651 |
| 14 | Burks v. Raemisch | green | “public employees are responsible for their own misdeeds but not for anyone else's.” | 393 |
| 15 | Steffey v. Orman | green | “that having counsel appointed would have assisted the prisoner in presenting his strongest possible case, as the same could be said in any case.” | 386 |
| 16 | Swanson v. Citibank, N.A. | green | “enough details about the subject-matter of the case to present a story that holds together.” | 323 |
| 17 | Hill v. Smithkline Beecham Corp. | green | “the merits of a prisoner's claims, the nature and complexity of the factual and legal issues, and the prisoner's ability to investigate the facts and present his claims.” | 310 |
| 18 | Thomas A. Russell v. Zimmer, Inc. | green | “district courts, however, have broad discretion to deny leave to amend a complaint where the amendment would be futile.” | 143 |
| 19 | Snodderly v. R.U.F.F. Drug Enforcement Task Force | green | “indiana's two-year statute of limitations . . . is applicable to all causes of action brought in indiana under 42 u.s.c. 1983 .” | 59 |
| 20 | Liberty v. City of Chicago | green | “knowledge of the injury and that the defendant or an employee of the defendant acting within the scope of his or her employment may have caused the injury.” | 10 |
| 21 | Michael Alexander v. United States | green | “a complaint must contain facts that are sufficient, when accepted as true, to 'state a claim to relief that is plausible on its face.” | 4 |
A red or yellow flag on a member means the underlying case has negative treatment: for those, check the case page before relying on the passage.