United States v. Alpers’s Empirical Analysis
338 U.S. 680 · 1950
Citation profile
129 federal appellate · 28 district · 14 state decisions
How this case has been cited
Cited by 294 later decisions (12 by the Supreme Court) — most recently April 2022 · most notably United States v. Powell (1975), Garner v. State of Louisiana Briscoe (1961)
129 federal appellate · 28 district · 14 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.
Appellate journey
reviewedAlpers v. United States (from Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals)
Relationships
Applies 18 U.S.C. § 1462
Relies on Gooch v. United States · Bleistein v. Donaldson Lithographing Co. · United States v. Sullivan · Mason v. United States · United States v. Resnick
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 294 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.
“The rule of ejusdem generis, while firmly established, is only an instrumentality for ascertaining the correct meaning of words when there is uncertainty. Ordinarily, it limits general terms which follow specific ones to matters similar to those specified; but it may not be used to defeat the obvious purpose of legislation.”
4 later decisions quote this exact passage · from the majority““We are aware that this is a criminal statute and must be strictly construed. This means that no offense may be created except, by the words of Congress used in their usual and ordinary sense. There are no constructive offenses. (Citing cases.) The most important thing to be determined is the intent' of Congress. The language of the statute may not be distorted under the guise of construction, or so limited by construction as to defeat the manifest intent of Congress.””
2 later decisions quote this exact passage · from the majority“cannot be employed to render general words meaningless.”
2 later decisions quote this exact passage · from the majority
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.