Mays v. City of East St. Louis’s Empirical Analysis

Citation profile

13 federal appellate · 5 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 21 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.

1. “We hold that in dismissing this case in the circumstances here presented, the trial judge violated the doctrine of separation of powers. The amorphous claim endorsed by the trial court and the Court of Appeals would inevitably call for courts to decide what policy of retrial is best for all the people of Michigan. . . . ‘Which policy is best for the people ... is a complex question, answered different ways at different times in this nation ... — but it is a question about moral and efficient law enforcement for the people to debate and resolve.”. . . [AJbsent a violation of the constitution or specific statutory authority, we are not persuaded that we have the authority or the wisdom to monitor the performance of the elected prosecutor.”

   2 later decisions quote this exact passage · from the concurrence
   e.g. People v. Sierb · State v. Fitzpatrick

2. ““Death and disability haunt law enforcement. Lax law enforcement emboldens criminals and leads to more crime. Zealous pursuit of suspects jeopardizes bystanders and persons accompanying the offender. Easy solutions rarely work, and ex post assessments—based on sympathy for those the criminal has injured, while disregarding the risks to society at large from new restrictions on how the police work—are unlikely to promote aggregate social welfare.” Mays v. City of East St. Louis, Ill., 123 F.3d 999, 1004 (1997).”

   2 later decisions quote this exact passage · from the concurrence
   e.g. Parish v. Hill · Robbins v. City of Wichita

3. “"Political society must consider not only the risks to passengers, pedestrians, and other drivers that high-speed chases engender, but also the fact that if police are forbidden to pursue, then many more suspects will flee — and successful flights not only reduce the number of crimes solved but also create their own risks for passengers and bystanders."”

   2 later decisions quote this exact passage · from the concurrence
   e.g. 166 N.C. App. 312 - Eckard v. Smith · Parish v. Hill