Williams v. Meyer’s Empirical Analysis

Citation profile

5 federal appellate ·

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 October 1967, Theodore Williams, the petitioner, entered a plea of guilty in Michigan state court to a charge of first degree murder. Prior to sentencing, Williams was designated a “criminal sexual psychopath,” under the then-applicable [CSPA], and committed to the custody of a state mental hospital. He was initially discharged in September 1973, but he was returned to custody in 1979, following a determination by the Michigan Supreme Court that he had been improperly released. See People v. Williams, 406 Mich. 909 (1979). From then until the present, he has remained in the custody of the Michigan Department of Mental Health. He has filed a number of petitions for discharge pursuant to section 7 of the repealed [CSPA], all of which have been denied. Today, he is the only person remaining in the custody of the Michigan Department of Mental Health who was committed under, and whose discharge is governed by, the [CSPA]. The present action began with the petition for discharge Williams filed on September 19, 1991. In addition to seeking discharge under section 7 of the [CSPA], Williams contended that the application of section 7 violated his constitutional rights to due process and equal protection. On July 29, 1993, the state circuit court rejected Williams’ constitutional challenges. JA 77-100 (People v. Williams, No. 67-4411 FY (Allegan County, Mich. Cir. Ct. July 29, 1993)). On June 13, 1994, at the conclusion of a series of evidentiary hearings, it orally denied Williams’”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage · from the majority
   e.g. Williams v. Meyer

2. “In deciding whether relief is warranted, three factors are relevant: (1) whether the party seeking relief is culpable; (2) whether the party opposing relief will be prejudiced; and (3) whether the party seeking relief has a meritorious claim or defense. Culpability is “framed” by the specific language of the rule; i.e., a party demonstrates a lack of culpability by demonstrating “mistake, inadvertence, surprise, or excusable neglect.””

   1 later decision quote this exact passage · from the majority
   e.g. In Re McKenzie