Skokos’s Empirical Analysis

Citation profile

8 federal appellate · 3 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 13 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.

1. “Skokos and Chapman argue that the seizure of their countertop machines violated their fourth amendment rights. Since [the prosecutor] was acting in an investigatory capacity in advising the police that the machines were illegal under Arkansas law, he is eligible only for qualified immunity, not absolute prosecutorial immunity. Mr. Rhoades is entitled to qualified immunity if his legal opinion was reasonable when made. Like a police officer, a prosecutor is “entitled to make a reasonable interpretation of the law he is obligated to enforce.””

   1 later decision quote this exact passage · from the majority
   e.g. 671 F. Supp. 2d 1067 - Bala v. Stenehjem

2. ““the use of the phrase ‘immediately apparent’ was very likely an unhappy choice of words, since it can be taken to imply that an unduly high degree of certainty as to the incriminatory character of evidence is necessary.” For an item’s incriminating character to be immediately apparent, the police merely need probable cause to believe that the item is contraband. Once that probable cause exists, a plain-view seizure of the item is permissible.”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage · from the dissent
   e.g. 446 F. Supp. 2d 1073 - United States v. Marasco

3. “For the conduct to amount to a constitutional deprivation, the state actor's conduct must be egregious or, in other words, arbitrary, or conscience shocking, in a constitutional sense.”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage · from the majority
   e.g. Efinchuk v. Astrue