Sorrells v. United States’s Empirical Analysis
287 U.S. 435 · 1932
Citation profile
2,487 federal appellate · 95 district · 1,179 state decisions
How this case has been cited
Cited by 4,296 later decisions (83 by the Supreme Court) — most recently December 2024 · most notably United States v. American Trucking Associations (1940), United States v. Russell (1973)
2,487 federal appellate · 95 district · 1,179 state decisions — followed in 49 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
reviewedSorrells v. United States (from Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals)
Relationships
Relies on Olmstead v. United States · Rector Etc of Holy Trinity Church v. United States · United States v. Chemical Foundation, Inc. · Henning Jacobson v. Commonwealth of Massachusetts
Cited together with Sherman v. United States · United States v. Russell · Masciale v. United States · Lopez v. United States · Hampton v. United States
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 4,296 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.
“when the criminal design originates with the officials of the government, and they implant in the mind of an innocent person the disposition to commit the alleged offense and induce its commission in order that they may prosecute.”
210 later decisions quote this exact passage · from the majority““The applicable principle is that courts must be closed to the trial of a crime instigated by the government’s own agents. No other issue, no comparison of equities as between the guilty official and the guilty defendant, has any place in the enforcement of this overruling principle of public policy.””
28 later decisions quote this exact passage · from the majority““The act for which the defendant was prosecuted was instigated by the prohibition agent, * * * it was the creature of his purpose * * * defendant had no previous disposition to commit [the crime] but was an industrious, law-abiding citizen, and * * * otherwise innocent.””
16 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.