United States v. Johnson’s Empirical Analysis
481 F.2d 645 · 1973
Citation profile
29 federal appellate · 3 state decisions
How this case has been cited
Cited by 33 later decisions — most recently December 1997 · most notably United States v. Maseratti (1993), United States v. Martinez (1977)
29 federal appellate · 3 state decisions
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
Applies 21 U.S.C. § 802 (§ 102 of the Controlled Substances Act) · 21 U.S.C. § 841 (§ 401 of the Controlled Substances Act)
Relies on Isbell Enterprises, Inc. v. Citizens Casualty Co. of New York · Rodriguez v. New York · United States v. Sawyer · Adams v. United States · United States v. Wokkopich
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 33 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.
“"Johnson's second contention is that he was nothing more than a procuring agent, a mere conduit through whom the drugs passed. Relying on cases such as Adams v. United States, 220 F.2d 297 (5th Cir. 1955), and United States v. Sawyer, 210 F.2d 169 (3rd Cir. 1954), he argues that the jury should have been instructed that a procuring agent could not be guilty of the crime charged. This argument has no merit. The rule announced in the cases cited and the other case he relied upon dealt with the prosecutions for the `sale' of narcotics. . . . Johnson was not charged with sale. Rather, he was charged under the provisions of the Comprehensive Drug Abuse Prevention and Control Act of 1970, which make it unlawful to knowingly and intentionally distribute heroin. . . . Thus the argument advanced by Johnson, based as it is upon the requirement of the prior law that the government prove the defendant to be a seller, has no application to the prosecution for distribution of heroin sub judice. . . ."”
1 later decision quote this exact passage · from the majority
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.