Atkins v. Commonwealth’s Empirical Analysis

Citation profile

2 federal appellate · 18 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 26 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.

1. “means a disability, originating before the age of 18 years, characterized concurrently by (i) significantly subaverage intellectual functioning as demonstrated by performance on a standardized measure of intellectual functioning administered in conformity with accepted professional practice, that is at least two standard deviations below the mean and (ii) significant limitations in adaptive behavior as expressed in conceptual, social and practical adaptive skills. 68 Va.Code Ann. § 19.2-264.3:1.1(A) (Michie 2004); cf. Atkins I, 536 U.S. at 308 n. 3, 318, 122 S.Ct. 2242 (noting that”

   3 later decisions quote this exact passage · from the majority
   e.g. Johnson v. Commonwealth · Walton v. Johnson

2. “`sole purpose of making a determination of mental retardation.'”

   3 later decisions quote this exact passage · from the majority
   e.g. In Re Com. · Atkins v. Com.

3. “`le[ft] to the State[s] the task of developing appropriate ways to enforce the constitutional restriction upon [their] execution of sentences.'”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage · from the majority
   e.g. Walton v. Johnson