Ayers v. State’s Empirical Analysis

Citation profile

76 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 76 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.

1. “The State argues that the statute does not punish bigoted thought ... but instead punishes only conduct. While this argument is literally correct, it does not dispose of Mitchell's First Amendment challenge. To be sure, our cases reject the "view that an apparently limitless variety of conduct can be labeled `speech' whenever the person engaging in the conduct intends thereby to express an idea." Thus, a physical assault is not by any stretch of the imagination expressive conduct protected by the First Amendment.”

   2 later decisions quote this exact passage
   e.g. 131 Md. App. 89 - McKENZIE AND GREEN v. State · McKenzie v. State

2. “Because of the potential 'chilling effect’ that vagueness can have on First Amendment liberties, permitting a defendant to challenge a statute on its face for vagueness becomes a ‘rule of standing which allows a defendant to challenge the validity of a statute even though the statute as applied to the defendant is constitutional.’”

   2 later decisions quote this exact passage
   e.g. State v. Phillips · Galloway v. State

3. ““When a trial court is faced with the need to decide whether to admit evidence of another crime—that is, evidence that relates to an offense separate from that for which the defendant is presently on trial—it first determines whether the evidence fits within one or more of the [special relevancy] exceptions. That is a legal determination and does not involve any exercise of discretion. If one or more of the exceptions applies, the next step is to decide whether the accused’s involvement in the other crimes is established by clear and convincing evidence. If this requirement is met, the trial court proceeds to the final step. The necessity for and probative value of the ‘other crimes’ evidence is to be carefully weighed against any undue prejudice likely to result from its admission. This segment of the analysis implicates the exercise of the trial court’s discretion.” (Citations omitted).”

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