Ake v. Oklahoma’s Empirical Analysis
1985
Citation profile
1,185 federal appellate · 85 district · 2,737 state decisions
How this case has been cited
Cited by 5,259 later decisions (111 by the Supreme Court) — most recently February 2025 · most notably United States v. Bagley (1985), Coleman v. Thompson (1991)
1,185 federal appellate · 85 district · 2,737 state decisions — followed in 48 states
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
Relies on Strickland v. Washington · Mathews v. Eldridge · Gideon v. Wainwright · McMann v. Richardson · Griffin v. People of the State of Illinois
Cited together with Strickland v. Washington · Caldwell v. Mississippi · Coleman v. Thompson · Brady v. State of Maryland · Teague v. Lane
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 5,259 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.
“when a defendant demonstrates to the trial judge that his sanity at the time of the offense is to be a significant factor at trial, the State must, at a minimum, assure the defendant access to a competent psychiatrist who will conduct an appropriate examination and assist in evaluation, preparation, and presentation of the defense.”
279 later decisions quote this exact passage · from the majority“an adequate opportunity to present their claims fairly within the adversary system.”
74 later decisions quote this exact passage · from the majority“when a defendant has made a preliminary showing that his sanity at the time of the offense is likely to be a significant factor at trial, the Constitution requires that a State provide access to a psychiatrist's assistance on this issue if the defendant cannot otherwise afford one.”
46 later decisions quote this exact passage
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.