Commonwealth v. Vitello’s Empirical Analysis
1975
Citation profile
23 federal appellate · 9 district · 112 state decisions
How this case has been cited
Cited by 149 later decisions — most recently June 2018 · most notably Reed v. State (1978), Commonwealth v. Blood (1987)
23 federal appellate · 9 district · 112 state decisions — followed in 15 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.
Relationships
Applies 18 U.S.C. § 2518 (Electronic Communications Privacy Act of 1986) · 47 U.S.C. § 605
Relies on Katz v. United States · Chambers v. Mississippi · United States v. Ventresca · Broadrick v. Oklahoma · Washington v. Texas
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 149 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.
“"The defendants concede that to require the personal appearance of a State's principal prosecuting attorneys before the issuing judge in all instances would impede enforcement of the State criminal law; they do not assert that § 2516(2) mandates such a personal appearance . . Rather, the defendants contend that `to apply' means that the district attorney, if he is the principal prosecuting attorney in a case, must affirmatively demonstrate some familiarity with the application, thereby providing an indication that he reviewed the merits of the particulars of the application. Emphasizing the term that the district attorney must apply, the defendants submit that a delegation of authority to the assistant district attorney empowering him to apply for the warrant is improper and in conflict with the Federal enabling section; that as a consequence the State statute is invalid in this regard; and that since the warrants issued in these cases were applied for by an assistant district attorney, the warrants are invalid. Hence, if the defendants' position is correct, all evidence seized thereunder would be suppressed ... We do not think that the term `apply' in § 2516(2) is to be so narrowly read as the defendants suggest. We base our conclusion on the statutory language of Title III, the legislative history of the act, and the reasoning of certain other decisions which have construed this section... The Senate Report, which analyzes section by section the provisions of Title III, wit”
2 later decisions quote this exact passage““The attorney general, any assistant attorney general specially designated by the attorney general, any district attorney, or any assistant district attorney specially designated by the district attorney may apply ex parte to a judge of competent jurisdiction for a warrant to intercept wire or oral communications.””
2 later decisions quote this exact passage“"Florida has chosen to implement the requirement in the federal statute that the principal prosecuting attorney make application for the wiretap order, by designating, among others, the Governor of the state to authorize initial applications for interceptions .. . Appellants contend, however, that the chief executive officer of the state is not within the contemplation of the federal statute authorizing the `principal prosecuting attorney' of the state to make initial approval. The purpose of including this requirement in the federal statute was not to designate a particular officer by name or title but to ensure the centralization of policy decisions of this type at the highest practicable levels, preferably on a statewide basis. In the words of the Senate report explaining section 2516(2): In most States the principal prosecuting attorney of the State would be the attorney general. The important question, however, is not name but function. The intent of the proposed provision is to provide for the centralization of policy relating to statewide law enforcement in the area of the use of electronic surveillance in the chief prosecuting officer of the State. Who that officer would be would be a question of State law. Where no such office exists, policymaking would not be possible on a statewide basis; it would have to move down to the next level of government. " (e.s.)”
1 later decision quote this exact passage
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.