State v. Ressler’s Empirical Analysis

Citation profile

1 district · 17 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 18 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.

1. “[t]he right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures.”

   2 later decisions quote this exact passage
   e.g. State v. Schmalz · State v. Nickel

2. “had reasonable suspicion to suspect Res-sler’s package, and this level of suspicion would have justified a decision to detain the package at We Ship pending further investigation. By transporting the package, however, police executed the seizure in a manner we believe is contrary to the constitutional prohibition against unreasonable seizures. A seizure of a package based on reasonable suspicion affords government officials less command, dominion, or control over the package than they would possess if executing a full-fledged seizure based on probable cause or a warrant. A contrary conclusion would distend the rationale for a Terry stop to a point where it envelops a seizure based on probable cause or a seizure supported by a warrant. See Terry v. Ohio, 392 U.S. 1 , 88 S.Ct. 1868 , 20 L.Ed.2d 889 (1968). Police could not seize Ressler’s package to a greater extent than by placing it in their exclusive control, removing it from the location where it was submitted for shipping, and transporting it to a law enforcement center. This full-fledged seizure required either probable cause supported by an exception to the warrant requirement or a warrant to be valid. [United, States v.] Place, 462 U.S. [696,] 701-02, 103 S.Ct. 2637 [ 77 L.Ed.2d 110 (1983) ]; see Garmon v. Foust, 741 F.2d 1069, 1073-74 [ (8th Cir. 1984) ] (finding exigent circumstances existed where a shipped parcel could be lost or mistakenly delivered). A Terry stop of a package is distinguishable from a full-fledged ”

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

3. “[p]robable cause is required for a search warrant under the Fourth Amendment to the United States Constitution and Article I, Section 8 of our state constitution.”

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