Smith v. United States’s Empirical Analysis
1959
Citation profile
510 federal appellate · 66 district · 258 state decisions
How this case has been cited
Cited by 990 later decisions (27 by the Supreme Court) — most recently May 2025 · most notably United States v. Marion (1971), United States v. Cotton (2002)
510 federal appellate · 66 district · 258 state decisions — followed in 40 states
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
reviewedthe decision below (from Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals)
Relationships
Relies on McNabb v. United States · Edwin Hale v. William Henkel · Hagner v. United States · Bain Jr · United States v. Debrow
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 990 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.
““This Court has, in recent years, upheld many convictions in the face of questions concerning the sufficiency of the charging papers. Convictions are no longer reversed because of minor and technical deficiencies which did not prejudice the accused. E. g., Hagner v. United States, 285 U.S. 427 [ 52 S.Ct. 417 , 76 L.Ed. 861 ]; Williams v. United States, 341 U.S. 97 [ 71 S.Ct. 576 , 95 L.Ed. 774 ]; United States v. Debrow, 346 U.S. 374 [ 74 S.Ct. 113 , 98 L.Ed. 92 ]. This has been a salutary development in the criminal law.””
13 later decisions quote this exact passage · from the majority““ * * * when the offense as charged is sufficiently broad to justify a capital verdict, the trial must proceed on that basis, even though the evidence later establishes that such a verdict cannot be sustained because the victim was released unharmed. It is neither procedurally correct nor practical to await the conclusion of the evidence to determine whether the accused is being prosecuted for a capital offense. For tihe.toal Jud?e “ustx make 7lnf°rm^ decisions prior to trial which will depend on whether the offense may be so punished * * * 360 U.S. 1 , 8, 79 991, 996.”
8 later decisions quote this exact passage · from the majority““An offense which may be punished by death shall be prosecuted by indictment. An offense which may be punished by imprisonment for a term exceeding one year or at hard labor shall be prosecuted by indictment, or if indictment is waived, it may be prosecuted by information. Any other offense may be prosecuted by indictment or by information. An information may be filed without leave of court.” (Emphasis supplied.)”
6 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.