Godinez v. Moran’s Empirical Analysis
1993
Citation profile
604 federal appellate · 58 district · 1,237 state decisions
How this case has been cited
Cited by 2,706 later decisions (13 by the Supreme Court) — most recently March 2026 · most notably Cooper v. Oklahoma (1996), Indiana v. Edwards (2008)
604 federal appellate · 58 district · 1,237 state decisions — followed in 49 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
reviewedMoran v. Godinez (from Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals)
Relationships
Relies on Boykin v. Alabama · Johnson v. Zerbst · Faretta v. California · Gideon v. Wainwright · Brady v. United States
Cited together with Faretta v. California · Dusky v. United States · Strickland v. Washington · Drope v. Missouri · Pate v. Robinson
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 2,706 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.
“the competence that is required of a defendant seeking to waive his right to counsel is the competence to waive the right, not the competence to represent himself.”
69 later decisions quote this exact passage · from the majority“sufficient present ability to consult with his lawyer with a reasonable degree of rational understanding”
39 later decisions quote this exact passage“The focus of a competency inquiry is the defendant's mental capacity; the question is whether he has the ability to understand the proceedings.”
33 later decisions quote this exact passage · from the dissente.g. Moran v. Godinez · Maynard v. Boone
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.