Butler v. Dexter’s Empirical Analysis
1976
Citation profile
15 federal appellate · 6 district · 17 state decisions
How this case has been cited
Cited by 54 later decisions (2 by the Supreme Court) — most recently August 2023 · most notably Fleet Data Processing Corp. v. Branch (In Re Bank of New England Corp.) (1998), Gordon v. National Youth Work Alliance (1982)
15 federal appellate · 6 district · 17 state decisions
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.
Relationships
Applies 28 U.S.C. § 1253 · 28 U.S.C. § 2281
Relies on Brown Shoe Co. v. United States · Samuel Bailey v. Joe T. Patterson · Phillips v. United States · Moody v. Flowers · Ex parte Bransford
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 54 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.
“(1) he possesses a criminal instrument with intent to use it in the commission of an offense; or (2) with knowledge of its character and with intent to use or aid or permit another to use in the commission of an offense, he manufactures, adapts, sells, installs, or sets up a criminal instrument. (b) For the purpose of this section, “criminal instrument” means anything, the possession, manufacture, or sale of which is not otherwise an offense, that is specially designed, made, or adapted for use in the commission of an offense. (c) An offense under subsection (a)(1) of this section is one category lower than the offense intended. An offense under subsection (a)(2) of this section is a felony of the third degree.”
3 later decisions quote this exact passage · from the majority“[The statute] aims at terminating incipient criminal activity, the existence of which is indicated by conduct involving a “criminal instrument.” The mere possession or manufacture of things specially designed for the purpose of accomplishing a criminal objective is strong evidence of criminal intent. The instrument must be specially designed, made, or adapted for the commission of an offense, however; things frequently used in crime, but which have common, lawful uses, are excluded from the purview of Section 16.01 because possession of such things, alone, is conduct too ambiguous for imposition of the criminal sanction ____”
1 later decision 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.