Alger v. Commonwealth’s Empirical Analysis
2004
Citation profile
44 state decisions
Relationships
Relies on Nobelman v. American Savings Bank · Barnhart Commissioner of Social Security v. Thomas · Barr v. Town & Country Properties, Inc. · Armstrong v. Commonwealth · Sun Valley Foods Co. v. Ward
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 46 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.
“[U]nder basic mies of statutory construction, [it must] determine the General Assembly’s intent from the words contained in the statute. When the language of a statute is unambiguous, courts are bound by the plain meaning of that language and may not assign a construction that amounts to holding that the General Assembly did not mean what it actually has stated.”
8 later decisions quote this exact passage · from the majority“[w]hile it is true that penal statutes must be strictly construed against the Commonwealth in criminal cases, `we will not apply”
3 later decisions quote this exact passage · from the majority“A. It shall be unlawful for ... any person who has been convicted of a felony ..., whether such conviction ... occurred under the laws of this Commonwealth, or any other state, the District of Columbia, the United States or any territory thereof, to knowingly and intentionally possess or transport any firearm.... B. The prohibitions of subsection A shall not apply to ... any person who has been pardoned or whose political disabilities have been removed pursuant to Article V, Section 12 of the Constitution of Virginia.... C. Any person prohibited from possessing, transporting, or carrying a firearm under subsection A, may petition the circuit court of the jurisdiction in which he resides for a permit to possess or carry a firearm; however, no person who has been convicted of a felony shall be qualified to petition for such a permit unless his civil rights have been restored by the Governor or other appropriate authority. The court may, in its discretion and for good cause shown, grant such petition and issue a permit. The provisions of this section shall not apply to any person who has been granted a permit pursuant to this subsection.”
1 later decision quote this exact passage · from the majority
How this case has been treated — in progress
Whether each later court followed, distinguished, criticized, or overruled this decision. The treatment classification (task #35) runs highest-cited cases first and lights up here as it reaches this one.