State v. Smith’s Empirical Analysis

Citation profile

4 federal appellate · 75 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 81 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.

1. “`absolutely no authority to control or supervise the power vested by the Constitution in the General Assembly as a coordinate branch of the government.'”

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

2. “During a closing argument to the jury an attorney may not become abusive, inject his personal experiences, express his personal belief as to the truth or falsity of the evidence or as to the guilt or innocence of the defendant, or make arguments on the basis of matters outside the record except for matters concerning which the court may take judicial notice. An attorney may, however, on the basis of his analysis of the evidence, argue any position or conclusion with respect to a matter in issue.”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage · from the dissent
   e.g. State v. Allen

3. “[W]e cannot see how any defendant’s right to appeal errors alleged in his capital case, which necessarily delays his execution, or our own mandate to ascertain on appeal that the death penalty rests firmly on the law and is in no way arbitrary or in any other way “cruel or degrading” violates this treaty’s provisions.”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage · from the dissent
   e.g. State v. Allen