United States v. Compton’s Empirical Analysis

Citation profile

19 federal appellate · 1 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 29 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.

1. “the willfulness requirement of [§ 871] ... require[s] only that the defendant intentionally make a statement, written or oral, in a context or under such circumstances wherein a reasonable person would foresee that the statement would be interpreted by those to whom the maker communicates the statement as a serious expression of an intention to inflict bodily harm upon or to take the life of the President, and that the statement not be the result of. mistake, duress, or coercion. The statute does not require that the defendant actually intend to carry out the threat.”

   3 later decisions quote this exact passage · from the majority
   e.g. United States v. Lincoln · United States v. Johnson

2. “. . . a threat is knowingly made if the maker of it comprehends the meaning of the words uttered by him, and a threat is willfully made if in addition to comprehending his words, the maker voluntarily and intentionally utters the words as a declaration of an apparent determination to carry out the threat. 15 However, before you convict a defendant under this statute, you must be convinced beyond a reasonable doubt that the defendant intentionally made a statement, either written or oral, in a context and under such circumstances that a reasonable person would foresee that the statement would be interpreted by persons hearing or reading it as a serious expression of an intention to inflict bodily harm upon or to take the life of the President of the United States, and you must be further convinced beyond a reasonable doubt that the statement was not the result of mistake, duress or coercion; however, the statute does not require proof beyond a reasonable doubt that the defendant actually intended to carry out the threat to kill or harm the President.”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage · from the majority
   e.g. United States v. Hart

3. “... [I]t appears that [section 871] was designed in part to prevent an evil other than assaults upon the President. It is our view that the other evil is the detrimental effect upon Presidential activity and movement that may result simply from a threat upon the President’s life. ****** If a threat is made in a context or under such circumstances wherein it appears that it is a serious threat, and the President or his advisers are made aware of the existence of the threat, then the threat would tend to have a restrictive effect upon the free exercise of Presidential responsibilities, regardless of whether there is any actual danger to the President. Thus, even though the maker of the threat does not have an actual intention to assault the President, an apparently serious threat may cause the mischief or evil toward which the statute was in part directed.”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage · from the majority
   e.g. United States v. Kosma