Penry v. Lynaugh’s Empirical Analysis
1989
Citation profile
1,283 federal appellate · 104 district · 1,618 state decisions
How this case has been cited
Cited by 4,338 later decisions (166 by the Supreme Court) — most recently May 2026 · most notably Wiggins v. Smith, Warden (2003), Atkins v. Virginia (2002)
1,283 federal appellate · 104 district · 1,618 state decisions — followed in 42 states
Later decisions citing this case, by decade. A case is still cited after being overruled — to note the reversal, distinguish it, or in dissent. 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
reviewedBrogdon v. Butler (from Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals)
Relationships
Applies 18 U.S.C. § 17 · 21 U.S.C. § 848 (§ 408 of the Controlled Substances Act)
Relies on Gregg v. Georgia · Teague v. Lane · City of Cleburne Texas v. Cleburne Living Center · Furman v. Georgia · Lockett v. Ohio
Cited together with Teague v. Lane · Strickland v. Washington · Lockett v. Ohio · Eddings v. Oklahoma · Williams v. Taylor
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 4,338 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.
“if the result was not dictated by precedent existing at the time the defendant's conviction became final.”
384 later decisions quote this exact passage · from the majority“breaks new ground or imposes a new obligation on the States or the Federal Government,”
23 later decisions quote this exact passage · from the majority“a vehicle for expressing its 'reasoned moral response' to”
22 later decisions quote this exact passage · from the majoritye.g. Richardson v. State · Boyd v. State
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.