State v. Morales’s Empirical Analysis

Citation profile

2 district · 30 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 32 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.

1. “Although the extension of a statute of limitations cannot revive a previously time-barred prosecution, we conclude that it can extend an unexpired limitation period because such extension does not impair vested rights acquired under prior law, require new obligations, impose new duties, or affix new disabilities to past transactions. Because capital felonies and first-degree violent felonies committed after July 1, 1982, were not time-barred as of the effective date of the 1997 amendment, we hold that the Legislature intended the 1997 amendment to apply to these crimes.”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage
   e.g. State v. Blea

2. “Thus, to determine whether a statutory amendment is retroactive the court must ask whether the new provision attaches new legal consequences to events completed before its enactment. The conclusion that a particular rule operates “retroactively” comes at the end of a process of judgment concerning the nature and extent of the change in the law and the degree of connection between the operation of the new rule and a relevant past event.... [Fjamiliar considerations of fair notice, reasonable reliance, and settled expectations offer sound guidance.”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage
   e.g. Andrew v. Schlumberger Technology Corp.

3. “[T]he rule of lenity, which counsels that criminal statutes should be interpreted in the defendant’s favor when insurmountable ambiguity persists regarding the intended scope of a criminal statute, may not be applied to defeat the apparent intent of the Legislature, as manifested by the language and structure, legislative history, and motivating policies of [a] statute.”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage
   e.g. State v. Olsson and Ballard