Mullaney v. Wilbur’s Empirical Analysis
1975
Citation profile
1,455 federal appellate · 289 district · 3,089 state decisions
How this case has been cited
Cited by 6,010 later decisions (162 by the Supreme Court) — most recently February 2026 · most notably Jackson v. Virginia (1979), Apprendi v. New Jersey (2000)
1,455 federal appellate · 289 district · 3,089 state decisions — followed in 49 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
reviewedStillman E. Wilbur, Jr. v. Garrell S. Mullaney (from First Circuit Court of Appeals)
Relationships
Relies on Chapman v. State of California · In the Matter of Samuel Winship · Fay v. Noia · Duncan v. State of Louisiana
Cited together with In the Matter of Samuel Winship · Patterson v. New York · Sandstrom v. Montana · Wainwright v. Sykes · Leland v. Oregon
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 6,010 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.
“[T]he Due Process Clause requires the prosecution to prove beyond a reasonable doubt the absence of the heat of passion on sudden provocation when the issue is properly presented in a homicide case.”
144 later decisions quote this exact passage · from the majority“state courts are the ultimate expositors of state law”
25 later decisions quote this exact passage · from the majority“that if the prosecution established that the homicide was both intentional and unlawful, malice aforethought was to be conclusively implied unless the defendant proved by a fair preponderance of the evidence that he acted in the heat of passion on sudden provocation.”
16 later decisions quote this exact passage · from the majoritye.g. Gall v. Parker · Bennett v. State
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.