United States v. Simms’s Empirical Analysis

Citation profile

15 federal appellate · 2 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 58 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.

1. “when the fact of conviction and the statutory definition of the offense are unduly vague or ambiguous, a sentencing court is entitled to turn to and apply the alternative “modified categorical” approach. In its 1990 Taylor decision, for example, the Supreme Court was unable, under the categorical approach, to determine whether Taylor’s burglary offense qualified as a “violent felony” under the ACCA, because the record did not reflect which specific state burglary statute was applicable, and not all of the state’s burglary statutes involved criminal conduct that would qualify as an ACCA violent felony [because it did not involve the use or attempted use of physical force]. Thus, the Court recognized that a sentencing court is entitled, in the proper circumstances, to go beyond the scope of the categorical approach and assess the underlying charging documents or jury instructions to ascertain whether the offense qualifies as an ACCA predicate offense.”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage
   e.g. United States v. White

2. “beyond conclusive records made or used in adjudicating guilt and look[ ] to documents submitted to lower courts even prior to charges,”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage
   e.g. United States v. Pettiford

3. “expressly incorporated into [the] charging document.”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage
   e.g. United States v. Pettiford