Patton v. United States’s Empirical Analysis
281 U.S. 276 · 1930
Citation profile
917 federal appellate · 55 district · 943 state decisions
How this case has been cited
Cited by 2,323 later decisions (113 by the Supreme Court) — most recently March 2025 · most notably United States v. Booker (2004), Glasser v. United States (1942)
917 federal appellate · 55 district · 943 state decisions — followed in 50 states
Later decisions citing this case, by decade. The current decade is in progress, and our corpus holds fewer opinions from the most recent years, so the latest bars are undercounted — not a real decline.
Appellate journey
reviewedthe decision below (from Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals)
Relationships
Relies on In re Debs · Capital Traction Co. v. Hof · Thompson v. State of Utah · Callan v. Wilson
Cited together with Adams v. United States Ex Rel. McCann · Johnson v. Zerbst · Duncan v. State of Louisiana · Singer v. United States · Boykin v. Alabama
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 2,323 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.
“the express and intelligent consent of the defendant.”
79 later decisions quote this exact passage · from the majority““The truth is that the theory of public policy embodies a doctrine of vague and variable quality, and, unless deducible in the given circumstances from constitutional or statutory provisions, should be accepted as the basis of a judicial determination, if at all, only with the utmost circumspection. The public policy of one generation may not, under changed conditions, be the public policy of another.””
19 later decisions quote this exact passage · from the majority““In all criminal prosecutions, the accused shall enjoy the right to a speedy and public trial, by an impartial jury * * * and to be informed of the nature and cause of the accusation; to be confronted with the witnesses against him; to have compulsory process for obtaining witnesses in his favor, and to have the Assistance of Counsel for his defence.””
12 later decisions 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.