161 Ill. 2d 297 - People v. Simac’s Empirical Analysis
1994
Citation profile
77 state decisions
How this case has been cited
Cited by 77 later decisions — most recently December 2025 · most notably 395 Ill. App. 3d 570 - Thomas v. Koe (2009), 276 Ill. App. 3d 939 - People v. Bell (1995)
77 state decisions
Later decisions citing this case, by decade. The current decade is in progress, and our corpus holds fewer opinions from the most recent years, so the latest bars are undercounted — not a real decline.
Relationships
Relies on Cooke v. United States · 141 Ill. 2d 1 - People v. Tye · 51 Ill. 2d 296 - People v. Javaras · 21 Ill. 2d 407 - PEOPLE EX REL. CHI. BAR ASS'N v. Barasch · 67 Ill. 2d 55 - People Ex Rel. Kunce v. Hogan
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 77 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.
““It is well established law that all courts have the inherent power to punish contempt; such power is essential to the maintenance of their authority and the administration of judicial powers. [Citation.] This court has defined criminal contempt of court ‘ “as conduct which is calculated to embarrass, hinder[,] or obstruct a court in its administration of justice or derogate from its authority or dignity, thereby bringing the administration of law into disrepute.” ’ [Citations.] A finding of criminal contempt is punitive in nature and is intended to vindicate the dignity and authority of the court. [Citation.] *** *** Direct contempt is ‘strictly restricted to acts and facts seen and known by the court, and no matter resting upon opinions, conclusions, presumptionsf,] or inferences should be considered.’ [Citation.] *** On appeal, the standard of review for direct criminal contempt is whether there is sufficient evidence to support the finding of contempt and whether the judge considered facts outside of the judge’s personal knowledge.””
3 later decisions quote this exact passage · from the dissent“The alleged contemnor's state of mind, however, does not have to be affirmatively proven; the contemptuous state of mind may be inferred from the allegedly contemptuous conduct itself.”
1 later decision quote this exact passage · from the dissent“must find that the alleged contemnor's conduct was willful”
1 later decision quote this exact passage · from the dissent
How this case has been treated — in progress
Whether each later court followed, distinguished, criticized, or overruled this decision. The treatment classification (task #35) runs highest-cited cases first and lights up here as it reaches this one.