Alvin Allen Sharp v. Maurice H. Sigler, Warden, Charles E. McClelland v. Maurice H. Sigler, Warden, William E. Yates v. Maurice H. Sigler, Warden, Thomas Arthur Davis v. Maurice H. Sigler, Warden’s Empirical Analysis

Citation profile

34 federal appellate · 5 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 65 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.

1. ““The fundamental concept of liberty embodied in [the Fourteenth] Amendment embraces the liberties guaranteed by the First Amendment. . . . The constitutional inhibition of legislation on the subject of religion has a double aspect. On the one hand, it forestalls compulsion by law of the acceptance of any creed or the practice of any form of worship. Freedom of conscience and freedom to adhere to such religious organization or form of worship as the individual may choose cannot be restricted by law. On the other hand, it safeguards the free exercise of the chosen form of religion. Thus the [First Amendment’s proscription of any law ‘respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof’] embraces two concepts — freedom to believe and freedom to act. The first is absolute but, in the nature of things, the second cannot be. Conduct remains subject to regulation for the protection of society. The freedom to act must have appropriate definition to preserve the enforcement of that protection. In every case the power to regulate must be so exercised as not, in attaining a permissible end, unduly to infringe the protected freedom. No one would contest the proposition that a state may not, by statute, wholly deny the right to preach or to disseminate religious views. Plainly such a previous and absolute restraint would violate the terms of the guarantee. It is equally clear that a state may by general and non-discriminatory legislation regulate the times, t”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage · from the majority
   e.g. Lipp v. Procunier

2. ““ ‘Laws are made for the government of actions, and while they cannot interfere with- mere religious belief and opinions, they may with practices.’ Reynolds v. United States, 98 U.S. 145, 166 , 25 L.Ed. 244 (1879).””

   1 later decision quote this exact passage · from the majority
   e.g. Theriault v. Silber

3. ““These precepts do not stop short in their application at a prison’s doors. Fundamental rights follow the prisoner through the walls which incarcerate him but always with appropriate limitations.””

   1 later decision quote this exact passage · from the majority
   e.g. 327 F. Supp. 821 - Rowland v. Sigler