Escoe v. Zerbst’s Empirical Analysis
295 U.S. 490 · 1935
Citation profile
398 federal appellate · 85 district · 389 state decisions
How this case has been cited
Cited by 1,130 later decisions (41 by the Supreme Court) — most recently June 2025 · most notably Morrissey v. Brewer (1972), Gagnon v. Scarpelli (1973)
398 federal appellate · 85 district · 389 state decisions — followed in 44 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
reviewedEscoe v. Zerbst (from Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals)
Relationships
Relies on Snyder v. Commonwealth of Massachusetts · Burns v. United States · Richbourg Motor Co. v. United States · French v. Edwards
Cited together with Burns v. United States · Mempa v. Rhay · Morrissey v. Brewer · Goldberg v. Kelly · Gagnon v. Scarpelli
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 1,130 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.
“Clearly the end and aim of an appearance before the court must be to enable an accused probationer to explain away the accusation. * * * This does not mean that he may insist upon a trial in any strict or formal sense. * * * It does mean that there shall be an inquiry so fitted in its range to the needs of the occasion as to justify the conclusion that discretion has not been abused by the failure of the inquisitor to carry the probe deeper.”
39 later decisions quote this exact passage · from the majority“It is beside the point to argue, as the government does, that in this case a hearing, if given, is likely to be futile because the judge has made it plain how his discretion will be exercised .... The non sequitur is obvious. The judge is without the light whereby his discretion must be guided until a hearing, however summary, has been given ....”
1 later decision quote this exact passage · from the majority“the court may revoke the probation or the suspension of sentence, and may impose any sentence which might originally have been imposed.”
1 later decision quote this exact passage · from the majoritye.g. Frad v. Kelly
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.