United States v. Ventresca’s Empirical Analysis
1965
Citation profile
2,401 federal appellate · 485 district · 4,264 state decisions
How this case has been cited
Cited by 8,372 later decisions (72 by the Supreme Court) — most recently January 2026 · most notably Illinois v. Gates (1983), United States v. Leon (1984)
2,401 federal appellate · 485 district · 4,264 state decisions — followed in 50 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
reviewedVentresca v. United States (from First Circuit Court of Appeals)
Relationships
Relies on Carroll v. United States · Aguilar v. Texas · Brinegar v. United States · Jones v. United States · Beck v. State of Ohio
Cited together with Aguilar v. Texas · Jones v. United States · Spinelli v. United States · Brinegar v. United States · Illinois v. Gates
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 8,372 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.
“Although in a particular case it may not be easy to determine when an affidavit demonstrates the existence of probable cause, the resolution of doubtful or marginal cases in this area should be largely determined by the preference to be accorded to warrants.”
436 later decisions quote this exact passage · from the majority“The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.”
26 later decisions quote this exact passage · from the majority“[I]n a doubtful or marginal case a search under a warrant may be sustainable where without one it would fall.”
21 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.