Walker v. Commonwealth’s Empirical Analysis

Citation profile

7 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 8 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.

1. “A “fair warning” violation occurs “[w]hen a[n] ... unforeseeable state-court [sic] construction of a criminal statute is applied retroactively to subject a person to criminal liability for past conduct, the effect [being] to deprive him of due process of law in the sense of fair warning that his contemplated conduct constitutes a crime.” Bouie v. City of Columbia, 378 U.S. 347, 854-55 , 84 S.Ct. 1697, 1703 , 12 L.Ed.2d 894 (1964).... See also Gall v. Parker, 231 F.3d 265, 305-06 (6th Cir.2000) (detrimental application of new judicial interpretation of extreme emotional disturbance defense to conduct occurring when more favorable interpretation was in effect violated “fair warning” requirement). The “fair warning” requirement also applies to changes in common law principles that are “ ‘unexpected and indefensible by reference to the law which had been expressed prior to the conduct in issue.’” Rogers v. Tennessee, 532 U.S. 451, 460-62 , 121 S.Ct. 1693, 16991700 , 149 L.Ed.2d 697 (2001) (state court’s abolishment of common law “year and a day” rule did not violate “fair warning” requirement) (quoting Bouie, supra, at 354 , 84 S.Ct. at 1697 ).”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage
   e.g. Commonwealth v. Morris

2. “must be upheld against equal protection challenge if there is any reasonably conceivable state of facts that could provide a rational basis for the classification.”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage
   e.g. COM. NAT. RES. & ENVIR. PROT. v. Kentec