Burdick v. United States’s Empirical Analysis

Citation profile

51 federal appellate · 24 district · 87 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 206 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.

1. “A pardon is a deed, to the validity of which delivery is essential, and delivery is not complete without acceptance. It may then be rejected by the person to whom it is tendered; and if it be rejected, we have discovered no power in a court to force it on him. It may be supposed that no being condemned to death would reject a pardon; but the rule must be the same in capital cases and in misdemeanours. A pardon may be conditional; and the condition may be more objectionable than the punishment inflicted by the judgment.”

   4 later decisions quote this exact passage · from the majority
   e.g. Hoffa v. Saxbe · 791 So. 2d 1238 - Randall v. Florida Dept. of Law Enforcement

2. “[a pardon] carries an imputation of guilt; acceptance a confession of it.”

   3 later decisions quote this exact passage · from the majority
   e.g. 791 So. 2d 1238 - Randall v. Florida Dept. of Law Enforcement · 887 So. 2d 1268 - RJL v. State

3. ““ * * * The Constitution provides that the President ‘shall have power to grant reprieves and pardons for offenses against the United States, except in eases of impeachment.’ The power thus conferred is unlimited, with the exception stated. It extends to every offense known to the law, and may be exercised at any time after its commission either before legal proceedings are taken or during their pendency or after conviction and judgment. * '* * “Such being the case the inquiry arises as to the effect and operation of a pardon, and on this point all tho authorities concur. A pardon reaches both the punishment prescribed for the offense and the guilt of the offender; and when the pardon is full, it releases the punishment and blots out of existence the guilt, so that in the eye of the law the offender is as innocent as if he had never committed the offense. If granted before conviction, it prevents any of the penalties and disabilities consequent upon conviction from attaching; if granted after conviction, it removes the penalties and disabilities, and restores him to all his civil rights; it makes him, as it were, a new man, and gives him a new credit and capacity. “There is only this limitation to its operation : It does not restore offices forfeited, or property or interests vested in others in consequence of the conviction and judgment. * if “The effect of this pardon is to relieve the petitioner from all penalties and disabilities attached to the offense of treason, commit”

   2 later decisions quote this exact passage · from the majority
   e.g. Biddle v. Perovich · Hempel v. Weedin