Estelle v. Dorrough’s Empirical Analysis
1975
Citation profile
211 federal appellate · 21 district · 294 state decisions
How this case has been cited
Cited by 682 later decisions (11 by the Supreme Court) — most recently June 2024 · most notably United States v. Sharpe (1985), State v. Smith (1997)
211 federal appellate · 21 district · 294 state decisions — followed in 31 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
reviewedJerry Mack Dorrough v. W. J. Estelle, Director, Tdc (from Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals)
Relationships
Relies on Griffin v. People of the State of Illinois · San Antonio Independent School District v. Rodriguez · Williamson v. Lee Optical of Oklahoma, Inc. · Lindsley v. Natural Carbonic Gas Co. · United States v. James Griggs Raines
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 682 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.
“call upon the resources of the Court for determination of his claims.”
30 later decisions quote this exact passage · from the majority“It is clearly within our discretion to refuse to hear a criminal case in error, unless the convicted party, suing out the writ, is where he can be made to respond to any judgment we may render. In this case it is admitted that the plaintiff in error has escaped, and is not within the control of the court below, either actually, by being in custody, or constructively, by being out on bail. If we affirm the judgment, he is not likely to appear to submit to his sentence. If we reverse it and order a new trial he will appear or not, as he may consider most for his interest. Under such circumstances, we are not inclined to hear and decide what may prove to be only a moot case.”
5 later decisions quote this exact passage · from the dissent“the efficient, dignified operation of the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals.”
5 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.