McCormick v. Hunt’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 20 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.

1. “In the area of economics and social welfare, a State does not violate the Equal Protection Clause merely because the classifications made by its laws are imperfect. If the classification has some ‘[sic] reasonable basis,’ [sic] it does not offend the Constitution simply because the classification [sic] is not made with mathematical nicety or because in practice it results in some inequality, ‘[sic] Lindsley v. Natural Carbonic Gas Co., 220 U.S. 61, 78 , 31 S.Ct. 337, 340 , 55 L.Ed. 369 .[sic] The problems of government are practical ones and may justify, if they do not require, rough accommodations-illogical, it may be, and unscientific.’[sic] Metropolis Theatre Co. v. City of Chicago, 228 U.S. 61, 69-70 , 33 S.Ct. 441, 443 , 57 L.Ed. 730 . ‘[sic] A statutory discrimination will not be set aside if any state of facts reasonably may be conceived to justify it.’ [sic] McGowan v. Maryland, 366 U.S. 420, 426 , 81 S.Ct. 1101,1105 , 6 L.Ed.2d 393 .”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage
   e.g. 147 So. 3d 1136 - Estelle v. Eysinki

2. ““Every inmate in the custody of the Department of Corrections who has been convicted of a felony and sentenced to imprisonment for a stated number of years or months may earn a diminution of sentence by good behavior and performance of work or self improvement activities or both to be known as ‘good time’. Those inmates serving life sentences will be credited with good time earned which will be applied toward diminution of their sentences at such time as the life sentences might be commuted to a specific number of years. The director of corrections shall establish procedures for awarding and recording of good time and shall determine when good time has been earned toward diminution of sentence. The amount of diminution of sentence allowed shall be as otherwise provided by law.””

   1 later decision quote this exact passage
   e.g. Foster v. Louisiana Department of Corrections

3. “[t]he equal protection clause does not require absolute equality or precisely equal advantages.”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage
   e.g. State v. Granger