United States v. Lane’s Empirical Analysis
1986
Citation profile
1,153 federal appellate · 113 district · 262 state decisions
How this case has been cited
Cited by 2,144 later decisions (28 by the Supreme Court) — most recently June 2026 · most notably United States v. Olano (1993), Brecht v. Abrahamson (1993)
1,153 federal appellate · 113 district · 262 state decisions — followed in 31 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.
Appellate journey
reviewedUnited States v. Lane (from Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals)
Relationships
Applies 18 U.S.C. § 1341 (White-Collar Crime Penalty Enhancement Act of 2002) · 18 U.S.C. § 1623 · 18 U.S.C. § 371 · 28 U.S.C. § 2111
Relies on Chevron U. S. A. Inc. v. Natural Resources Defense Council, Inc. · Chapman v. State of California · Gideon v. Wainwright · Bruton v. United States · Kotteakos v. United States
Cited together with Kotteakos v. United States · Chapman v. State of California · Jackson v. Virginia · Brecht v. Abrahamson · Strickland v. Washington
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 2,144 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.
“'had substantial and injurious effect or influence in determining the jury's verdict.'”
42 later decisions quote this exact passage“designed to lull the victims into a false sense of security, postpone their ultimate complaint to the authorities, and therefore make the apprehension of the defendants less likely than if no mailings had taken place.”
17 later decisions quote this exact passage · from the dissent“[a]ny error, defect, irregularity or variance which does not affect substantial rights shall be disregarded.”
11 later decisions quote this exact passage · from the concurrence
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.