State v. Rizzo’s Empirical Analysis

Citation profile

37 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 37 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.

1. “The judge who presides at trial may, upon completion of the evidence, be exceedingly ill disposed towards the defendant, who has been shown to be a thoroughly reprehensible person. But the judge is not thereby recusable for bias or prejudice, since his knowledge and opinion it produced were properly and necessarily acquired in the course of the proceedings, and are indeed sometimes (as in a bench trial) necessary to completion of the judge’s task.”

   2 later decisions quote this exact passage · from the concurrence
   e.g. In re Disqualification of Winkler · In re Disqualification of Huffman

2. “'has never held that a defendant, when waiving the right to a jury, constitutionally is entitled to be canvassed by the trial court, let alone to require a specifically formulated canvass....'”

   2 later decisions quote this exact passage
   e.g. 3 Cal. 5th 151 - People v. Sivongxxay · 3 Cal. 5th 961 - People v. Daniels

3. “opinions that judges may form as a result of what they learn in earlier proceedings in the same case 'rarely' constitute the type of bias, or appearance of bias, that requires recusal”

   2 later decisions quote this exact passage · from the concurrence
   e.g. 182 Conn. App. 656 - State v. White · 167 Conn. App. 480 - Zilkha v. Zilkha