People v. McNally’s Empirical Analysis

Citation profile

8 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 8 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.

1. “... that general principle does not apply here [in a criminal case]. The phrase used by the majority is a convenient and often-used shorthand for the principle that "considerations of propriety, as well as long-established practice, demand that we refrain from passing upon the constitutionality of an act of Congress [or the Legislature] unless obliged to do so in the proper performance of our judicial function, when the question is raised by a party whose interests entitle him to raise it." Ashwander v. Tennessee Valley Auth., 297 U.S. 288, 341 , 56 S.Ct. 466 , 80 L.Ed. 688 (1936) (Brandeis, J., concurring). One of the earliest applications of this rule in Michigan was in 1874, when this Court said "any consideration of the constitutional question might have been waived, upon the ground that a legislative act should not be declared unconstitutional unless the point is presented in such a form as to render its decision imperative ...." Weimer v. Bunbury, 30 Mich. 201, 218 (1874). The reasons behind such judicial restraint include the delicacy and finality of judicial review of legislative acts, separation of powers concerns raised by ruling on the acts of the other two branches of government, and the need to show respect for the other two branches of government. See Rescue Army v. Muni Court of Los Angeles, 331 U.S. 549, 571 , 67 S.Ct. 1409 , 91 L.Ed. 1666 (1947), and Kloppenberg, Avoiding serious constitutional doubts: The supreme court's construction of statutes raising free”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage · from the concurrence
   e.g. People v. Shepherd

2. “considerations of propriety, as well as long-established practice, demand that we refrain from passing upon the constitutionality of an act of Congress [or the Legislature] unless obliged to do so in the proper performance of our judicial function, when the question is raised by a party whose interests entitle him to raise it.”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage
   e.g. People v. Shepherd

3. “any consideration of the constitutional question might have been waived, upon the ground that a legislative act should not be declared unconstitutional unless the point is presented in such a form as to render its decision imperative ....”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage · from the concurrence
   e.g. People v. Shepherd