McDowell v. Smith’s Empirical Analysis

Citation profile

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 23 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.

1. “A ministerial act is commonly one that is simple, absolute, and definite, arising under conditions admitted or proved to exist, and requiring merely the execution of a specific duty. A discretionary act, however, calls for the exercise of personal deliberation and judgment, which in turn entails examining the facts, reaching reasoned conclusions, and acting on them in a way not specifically directed.”

   2 later decisions quote this exact passage
   e.g. BARNETT Et Al. v. ATLANTA INDEPENDENT SCHOOL SYSTEM Et Al. · Grammens v. Dollar

2. “McDowell was not called on to exercise personal judgment, examine facts, reach reasoned conclusions or act in a way not specifically directed. On the contrary, she was merely required to execute specific duties as dictated by the school checkout policies. . . . [Thus, because] McDowell’s mandated actions were simple, absolute and definite, and required the execution of specific tasks without any exercise of discretion, we conclude that they were ministerial functions.”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage
   e.g. 310 Ga. App. 428 - Cotton v. Smith