Debs v. United States’s Empirical Analysis

Citation profile

92 federal appellate · 18 district · 20 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 194 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.

1. “■“'to willfully make or convey false reports or false statements, with intent to interfere with the operation or success of the military or naval forces of the United States, to promote the success of its enemies during the present war, and willfully cause and attempt to cause insubordination, disloyalty, mutiny, and refusal of duty in the military or naval, forces of the United States, and to willfully obstruct the recruiting or enlistment service of the United States, to the injury of the service and of the United States.””

   1 later decision quote this exact passage · from the majority
   e.g. United States ex rel. Milwaukee Social Democrat Pub. Co. v. Burleson

2. ““The main theme of the speech was Socialism, its growth, and a prophecy of its ultimate success. With that we have nothing to do, but if a part or the manifest intent of the more general utterances was to encourage those present to obstruct the recruiting service, and if in passages such encouragement was directly given, the immunity of the general theme may not be enough to protect the speech.””

   1 later decision quote this exact passage · from the majority
   e.g. Equi v. United States

3. “the words used had as their natural tendency and reasonably probable effect to obstruct the recruiting service,”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage · from the majority
   e.g. Dennis v. United States