9 canonical passages across 8 cases, quoted by 72 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 Sierra Club v. United States Army Corps Of Engineers.
| # | Case | Flag | Canonical passage | Citers |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Sierra Club v. United States Army Corps Of Engineers Anchor | green | “the test is conjunctive and neither meritlessness alone nor improper purpose alone will suffice.” | 17 |
| 2 | Wolters Kluwer Financial Services, Inc. v. Scivantage | green | “a finding of bad faith, and a finding that conduct is without color or for an improper purpose, must be supported by a high degree of specificity in the factual findings.” | 16 |
| 3 | United States v. International Brotherhood Of Teamsters, Chauffeurs, Warehousemen And Helpers Of America, Afl-Cio | green | “the supreme court has cautioned that because of the 'very potency' of a court's inherent power, it should be exercised 'with restraint and discretion.” | 8 |
| 4 | Schlaifer Nance & Company, Inc. v. Estate Of Andy Warhol | green | “a claim is entirely without color when it lacks any legal or factual basis.” | 7 |
| 5 | Sorenson v. Wolfson | green | “the court has discretion to decide whether to impose sanctions under 28 u.s.c. 1927 and its inherent authority.” | 6 |
| 6 | Schlaifer Nance & Company, Inc. v. Estate Of Andy Warhol | green | “could have concluded that facts supporting the claim might be established, not whether such facts actually had been established.” | 5 |
| 7 | Rommy Revson, Plaintiff-Counterclaim-Defendant-Appellant, Judd Burstein v. Cinque & Cinque, P.C., Defendant-Counterclaimant-Appellee | green | “colorable when it has some legal and factual support, considered in light of the reasonable beliefs of the individual making the claim.” | 5 |
| 8 | Julia Karen Eisemann v. Miriam Greene, M.D. | green | “clear evidence that (1) the offending party's claims were entirely without color, and (2) the claims were brought in bad faith-that is, motivated by improper purposes such as harassment or delay.” | 4 |
| 9 | Wood v. Brosse U.S.A., Inc. | green | “an award under 1927 is proper when the attorney's actions are so completely without merit as to require the conclusion that they must have been undertaken for some improper purpose such as delay.” | 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.