Peterson’s Empirical Analysis

Citation profile

13 district · 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 36 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.

1. “[t]he contours of the right must be sufficiently clear that a reasonable official would understand that what he is doing violates that right. This is not to say that an official action is protected by qualified immunity unless the very action in question has previously been held unlawful, but it is to say that in light of pre-existing law the unlawfulness must be apparent.”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage · from the majority
   e.g. 507 F. Supp. 2d 1150 - Allen v. Kline

2. “Thus, the search became unconstitutional only if it continued after the defendants realized, or reasonably should have realized, that the people named in the warrant as occupants of the apartment no longer resided there.”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage · from the majority
   e.g. 682 F. Supp. 2d 1260 - Powell v. Nunley

3. “[a]sserting a qualified immunity defense via a Rule 12(b)(6) motion ... subjects the defendant to a more challenging standard of review than would apply on summary judgment.”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage · from the majority
   e.g. Paige Ray-Cluney v. Charles Palmer