United States v. McLevain’s Empirical Analysis
310 F.3d 434 · 2002
Citation profile
18 federal appellate · 2 state decisions
How this case has been cited
Cited by 41 later decisions — most recently May 2025 · most notably United States v. Carter (2004), Shamaeizadeh v. Cunigan (2003)
18 federal appellate · 2 state decisions
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.
Relationships
Applies 21 U.S.C. § 841 (§ 401 of the Controlled Substances Act)
Relies on Apprendi v. New Jersey · United States v. Leon · Carroll v. United States · Coolidge v. New Hampshire · Whren 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 41 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.
“(1) a nexus between the seized object and the [suspected criminal activity]; (2) whether the intrinsic nature or appearance of the seized object gives probable cause to believe that it is associated with criminal activity; and (3) whether the executing officers can at the time of discovery of the object on the facts then available to them determine probable cause of the object's incriminating nature.”
2 later decisions quote this exact passage“the Supreme Court does not require that officers know that evidence is contraband.... [Probable cause] merely requires that the facts available to the officer would warrant a man of reasonable caution in the belief that certain items may be contraband or stolen property or useful as evidence of a crime. '”
1 later decision quote this exact passage“this requirement of a lawful right of access means generally an officer should get a warrant if possible before he seizes an item in plain view”
1 later decision quote this exact passagee.g. Pate v. Commonwealth
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.