Heaslip v. Freeman’s Empirical Analysis

Citation profile

21 state decisions

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 21 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.

1. “[i]n order to protect the public interest and the free flow of information, the news media should have the benefit of a substantial privilege not to reveal sources of information or to disclose unpublished information.”

   2 later decisions quote this exact passage
   e.g. State v. Knutson · State v. Knutson

2. “look first to the specific statutory language and be guided by its natural and most obvious meaning.”

   2 later decisions quote this exact passage
   e.g. State v. Newman · BRIDGEWATER TELEPHONE COMPANY, INC. v. City of Monticello

3. “[The first] sentence, read separately, could support both a privilege not to reveal sources of information and a privilege not to disclose unpublished information whether or not the information was confidential. The remaining text in the section, however, ties the unpublished information to the confidential relationship between the news media and its sources. Taking the section as a whole, the privilege not to disclose unpublished information appears to relate to unpublished information that would identify a source.”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage
   e.g. State v. Knutson