Grant v. State’s Empirical Analysis

Citation profile

4 federal appellate · 3 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. “Some people just can’t take a hint. On October 6, 2003, the Supreme Court of the United States responded to John Marion Grant’s petition for a writ of certiorari, arising from this Court’s rejection of his direct appeal from his capital conviction, by granting the petition, summarily vacating the judgment of this Court, and remanding the case to this Court, “for further consideration in light of Wiggins v. Smith, 539 U.S. 510 , 123 S.Ct. 2527 , 156 L.Ed.2d 471 (2003).” In a capital case like Grant’s — with further extensive review through the federal habeas corpus process inevitably following the direct appeal decision in this Court, and with a subsequent opportunity for the United States Supreme Court to intervene, through certiorari review of the decision of the United States Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit — intervention by the Supreme Court at this stage of the appellate process is rare and remarkable. One would think that this Court - would issue a careful, thoughtful response. That has not happened. The Supreme Court has. sent this Court a message, and its reference to the Wiggins decision would seem to make interpretation of this message a rather simple task. Yet today’s Court majority chooses to ignore the message, through a pinched and shallow interpretation of Wiggins and a determination to maintain its earlier ruling. I believe that the Court’s current actions will merely serve to delay, rather than to prevent, an eventual re-trial of the punishment stage of”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage · from the dissent
   e.g. Grant v. Trammell

2. “The question is not whether Grant’s background, family history, and some of his positive traits could excuse his cruel murder of Gay Carter. They certainly could not. The question is whether there is a “reasonable probability” that at least one juror — and it would only take one — could be sufficiently moved by the circumstances of Grant’s life to choose to spare that life from execution.”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage · from the dissent
   e.g. Grant v. Trammell