220 F. Supp. 2d 875 - Ferguson v. Leiter’s Empirical Analysis

Citation profile

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 6 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.

1. “The concern of the immunity inquiry is to acknowledge that reasonable mistakes can be made as to legal constraints' on particular police conduct. It is sometimes difficult for an officer to determine how the relevant legal doctrine, here excessive force, will apply to the factual situation the officer confronts. An officer might correctly perceive all of the relevant facts but have a mistaken understanding as to whether a particular amount of force is legal in those circumstances. If the officer’s mistake as to what the law requires is reasonable, however, the officer is entitled to the immunity defense.”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage · from the majority
   e.g. 332 F. Supp. 2d 1071 - Magrum v. Meinke

2. “[Wjhether a reasonable officer could have believed that using a chokehold to subdue a person resisting arrest, under arrest, under the particular circumstances presented in [that] case, was lawful “in light of clearly established law and the information the officer [] possessed.””

   1 later decision quote this exact passage · from the majority
   e.g. 332 F. Supp. 2d 1071 - Magrum v. Meinke