Webb v. Beto’s Empirical Analysis

Citation profile

2 federal appellate · 1 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 3 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.

1. “Both the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals and the United States Supreme Court have recognized that a person cannot be convicted after the law under which he was prosecuted has been repealed, notwithstanding that the offense may have been committed before the repeal. This rule applies where a law is repealed or expires while the case is on appeal to the highest court authorized to review it. Bell v. Maryland, 378 U.S. 226 , 231 n. 2, 84 S.Ct. 1814, 12 L.Ed.2d 822 (1964); Waffer v. State, supra; Mendoza v. State, supra. To classify a judgment as not final while the case is on appeal to the highest state court, but final afterwards, even though on appeal to the United States supreme Court, is an arbitrary classification 'utterly lacking in rational justification' and constitutionally impermissible under the Fourteenth Amendment. Flemming v. Nestor, 363 U.S. 603 , 80 S.Ct. 1367, 4 L.Ed.2d 1435 (1960); Williamson v. Lee Optical Co., 348 U.S. 483 , 75 S.Ct. 461, 99 L.Ed. 563 (1955).”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage · from the majority
   e.g. Webb v. Beto