Scott v. Donald’s Empirical Analysis

Citation profile

108 federal appellate · 43 district · 84 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 409 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.

1. ““That law [the act of congress above quoted] was not intended to confer upon any state the power to discriminate injuriously against the products of other slates in articles whose manufacture and use are not forbidden, and which are therefore the subjects of legitimate commerce. When that law provided that all fermented, distilled, or intoxicating liquors transported into any state or territory, remaining therein for use, consumption, sale, or storage therein, should, upon arrival in such state or territory, be subject to the operation and effect of the laws of such state or territory enacted in the exercise of its police, powers, to the same extent and in the same manner as though such liquids or liquors had been produced in such state or territory, and should not be exempt therefrom by reason of being introduced therein in original packages or otherwise, evidently equality or uniformity of treatment under state laws was intended. The question whether a given state law is a lawful exercise of the police power is still open, and must remain open, to this court. Such a law may forbid entirely the manufacture and sale of intoxicating liquors, and be valid. Or it may provide equal regulations for the inspection and sale of all domestic and imported liquors, and be valid. But the state cannot, under the congressional legislation referred to, establish a system which, in effect, discriminates between interstate and domestic commerce in - commodities to.make and use which are admit”

   9 later decisions quote this exact passage · from the majority
   e.g. Vance v. W. A. Vandercook Co. · Granholm Governor of Michigan et al. v. Heald et al.

2. ““First Beyond dispute, the respective states have plenary power to regulate the sale of intoxicating liquors within their borders, and the scope and extent of such regulations depend solely on the judgment of the lawmaking power of the states, provided always, they do not transcend the limits of state authority by invading rights which are secured by the constitution of the United States, and provided, further, that the regulations as adopted do not operate a discrimination against the rights of residents or citizens of other states of the Union. Second. Equally well established is the proposition that the .right to send liquors from one state into another, and the act of sending the'same, is interstate commerce, the regulation whereof has. been committed by :the constitution of the United States to congress, and hence that a state law which denies such a right, or substantially interferes with or hampers the same, is in conflict with the constitution of the United States. Third. It is also .certain that the settled doctrine is that the power to ship merchandise from one state into another carries with it, as an incident, the right in the receiver of the goods to sell them in the original packages, any state regulation to the contrmy notwithstanding; that is to say, that the goods received by interstate commerce remain raider the shelter of the interstate commerce clause of the constitution until by, a sale in the original package they have been commingled with the general ma”

   7 later decisions quote this exact passage · from the majority
   e.g. Vance v. W. A. Vandercook Co. · W. A. Vandercook Co. v. Vance

3. ““The evils attending the vice of intemperance in the use of spirituous liquors are so great that a natural reluctance is felt in appearing to interfere, even on constitutional grounds, with any law whose avowed purpose is to restrict or prevent the mischief. So long, however, as state legislation continues to recognize wines, beer, and spirituous liquors as articles of lawful consumption and commerce, so long must continue the duty of the federal courts to afford to such use and commerce the same measure of protection under the Constitution and laws of the United States, as is given to other articles. We cheerfully concede that the law in question was passed in the Iona fide exercise of the police power. We disclaim any imputation to the lawmakers of South Carolina of a design, under the guise of a domestic regulation, to interfere with the rights and privileges of either her own citizens, or those of her sister states, which are secured to them by the Constitution and laws of the United States. But, as we have had more than one occasion to observe, our willingness to believe that this statute was enacted in good faith, and to protect the people of the state from the evils of unrestricted importation, manufacture, and sale of ardent spirits, cannot control the final determination whether the statute, in some of its provisions, is not repugnant to the Constitution of the United States. As was said in Mugler v. Kansas, 123 U. S. 661 , 8 Sup. Ct. 273, 31 L. Ed. 210 , ‘if a statu”

   2 later decisions quote this exact passage · from the majority
   e.g. 2 Okla. Crim. 176 - Hudson v. State · 2 Okla. Crim. 161 - High v. State