United States v. International Minerals & Chemical Corp.’s Empirical Analysis
1971
Citation profile
359 federal appellate · 54 district · 105 state decisions
How this case has been cited
Cited by 726 later decisions (18 by the Supreme Court) — most recently September 2023 · most notably Cheek v. United States (1991), Ratzlaf et Ux United States (1994)
359 federal appellate · 54 district · 105 state decisions — followed in 23 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 Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals)
Relationships
Applies 18 U.S.C. § 3731
Relies on Morissette v. United States · United States v. Dotterweich · Boyce Motor Lines, Inc. v. United States · Lambert v. People of the State of California · United States v. Murdock
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 726 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.
“[W]here ... dangerous or deleterious devices or products or obnoxious waste materials are involved, the probability of regulation is so great that anyone who is aware that he is in possession of them or dealing with them must be presumed to be aware of the regulation.”
26 later decisions quote this exact passage · from the majority“principle that ignorance of the law is no defense applies whether the law be a statute or a duly promulgated and published regulation”
16 later decisions quote this exact passage · from the majority“(t)he rule that 'ignorance of the law will not excuse' . . . is deep in our law.”
11 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.