Brabson v. Wilkins’s Empirical Analysis

Citation profile

8 federal appellate · 2 district · 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 27 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.

1. “I believe that these limitations as well as the authority given the Warden unnecessarily interfere with and endanger this prisoner’s right to communicate with his attorney and governmental officials having either jurisdiction over the penal system or the power and authority to correct conditions existing therein. * * * ****** * * * Judges and courts are not the only persons or agencies capable of granting relief to prisoners complaining about the illegality of their treatment or detention. For this reason, I see no basis for distinguishing between letters to courts, to the prisoner’s attorney or to government cf. ficials. In all of these cases only the recipients of the letters should be permitted to determine whether the contents warrant their intervention and not the very person whose jurisdiction and conduct are being questioned. ****** Exactly how the exercise of this right will undermine prison discipline and authority is not made clear. The Attorney General alleges that “prisoners would be able to carry on unauthorized activities through communications from prisoners to their attorneys and thence to third parties.” Uncensored communications, however, presently occur on personal visits to the prison by the prisoner’s attorney and members of his family, without any apparent undermining of prison discipline. In any event, the right of a prisoner to unexpurgated communications with his attorney is so significant that it outweighs the danger of frustration of prison rules re”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage
   e.g. Sostre v. Rockefeller