Staley v. Jones’s Empirical Analysis

Citation profile

4 federal appellate · 2 state decisions

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 6 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.

1. “These examples illustrate that the White court’s interpretation of the phrases “constitutionally protected activity” and “conduct that serves a legitimate purpose” is so limited that it allows application of the statute to core First Amendment conduct. This is not to say that the statute necessarily makes protected conduct illegal or that individuals engaging in this conduct are certain to be prosecuted or convicted. Instead, the vagueness of the statute chills the exercise of First Amendment freedoms because it potentially subjects those who exercise these rights to criminal prosecution. See Broadrick, 413 U.S. at 612- 13, 93 S.Ct. 2908 (“[the overbreadth doctrine relies upon the] assumption that the statute’s very existence may cause others not before the court to refrain from constitutionally protected speech or expression”). The state of Michigan may certainly criminalize stalking, but it may not do so at the expense of the First Amendment. See id. (“[the over-breadth doctrine is predicated on the idea that] the possible harm to society in permitting some unprotected speech to go unpunished is outweighed by the possibility that protected speech of others may be muted and perceived grievances left to fester because of the possible inhibitory effects of overly broad statutes”).”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage · from the concurrence
   e.g. Staley v. Jones

2. ““If the White interpretation of the statute were not binding on the Court, it would agree that these portions of the statute violate the Due Process Clause. ... As such, without the White interpretation, the Court would agree with Staley that die statute fails to meet the basic requirements of the Due Process Clause.” 108 F. Supp. 2d at 786, fn. 4 .”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage · from the concurrence
   e.g. State v. Whitesell

3. “An overbreadth challenge will be successful if the challenged statute trenches upon a substantial amount of First Amendment protected conduct in relation to the statute's plainly legitimate sweep.”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage · from the concurrence
   e.g. City of Wichita v. Griffie