MacKenna v. Ellis’s Empirical Analysis

Citation profile

34 federal appellate · 3 district · 4 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 54 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.

1. “. [t]he defendant, being sui juris and mentally competent, had a right to rely on his own skill and ability to conduct his defense in person without the assistance of counsel; and the court was not justified in imposing assigned counsel on the defendant against his will. Id. at 41 .”

   4 later decisions quote this exact passage · from the majority
   e.g. Chapman v. United States · Scott v. Wainwright

2. “No circuit or district judge shall be required to entertain an application for a writ of habeas corpus to inquire into the detention of a person pursuant to a judgment of a court of the United States, or of any State, if it appears that the legality of such detention has been determined by a judge or court of the United States on a prior application for a writ of habeas corpus and the petition presents no new ground not theretofore presented and determined, and the judge or court is satisfied that the ends of justice will not be served by such inquiry.”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage · from the dissent
   e.g. Lee v. Alabama

3. “Under the facts of this case, to send it back to the district judge to try the issues presented is, I think, a complete rejection of the basic principle that a state, in matters in its own sphere, is sovereign, and that it is not subject to the supervision and control of federal courts.”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage · from the majority
   e.g. MacKenna v. Ellis