Ramirez v. Castro’s Empirical Analysis

Citation profile

31 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 67 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.

1. “(1) resulted in a decision that was contrary to, or involved an unreasonable application of, clearly established Federal law, as determined by the Supreme Court of the United States; or (2) resulted in a decision that was based on an unreasonable determination of the facts in light of the evidence presented in the State court proceeding.”

   5 later decisions quote this exact passage · from the concurrence
   e.g. Sarausad v. Porter · McCormick v. Adams

2. “Ewing’s sentence is justified by the State’s public-safety interest in incapacitating and deterring recidivist felons, and amply supported by his own long, serious criminal record.... To be sure, Ewing’s sentence is a long one. But it reflects a rational legislative judgment, entitled to deference, that offenders who have committed serious or violent felonies and who continue to commit felonies must be incapacitated. The State of California “was entitled to place upon [Ewing] the onus of one who is simply unable to bring his conduct within the social norms prescribed by the criminal law of the State.” Ewing’s is not “the rare ease in which a threshold comparison of the crime committed and the sentence imposed leads to an inference of gross disproportionality.””

   1 later decision quote this exact passage · from the dissent
   e.g. 621 F. Supp. 2d 863 - Edwards v. Ollison

3. “[t]he sentence imposed upon Ramirez ... is more severe than the sentence he would have faced had any one of his three crimes been murder, manslaughter, or rape. Considering the objective factors of this case and performing the fact-specific analysis of Ramirez’s criminal history as we are required to do under Supreme Court precedent, we hold that this is an “exceedingly rare” case in which the sentence imposed is grossly disproportionate to the crimes committed, in violation of the Eighth Amendment.”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage · from the majority
   e.g. United States v. Butler