Shannon v. United States’s Empirical Analysis
1994
Citation profile
225 federal appellate · 52 district · 139 state decisions
How this case has been cited
Cited by 671 later decisions (9 by the Supreme Court) — most recently June 2026 · most notably Old Chief v. United States (1997), Jones v. United States (1999)
225 federal appellate · 52 district · 139 state decisions — followed in 27 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. Shannon (from Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals)
Relationships
Relies on Richardson v. Marsh · United States v. Detroit Timber & Lumber Co. · Simmons v. South Carolina · Nebraska v. Wyoming · Payless Wholesale Distributor, Inc. v. Albert Culver (P.R.) Inc.
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 671 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.
“[i]t is well established that when a jury has no sentencing function, it should be admonished to reach its verdict without regard to what sentence might be imposed.”
38 later decisions quote this exact passage“not to be given as a matter of general practice”
5 later decisions quote this exact passage · from the concurrence“§ 4243. Hospitalization of a person found not guilty only by reason of insanity (a) Determination of present mental condition of acquitted person. — If a person is found not guilty only by reason of insanity at the time of the offense charged, he shall be committed to a suitable facility until such time as he is eligible for release pursuant to subsection (e) [sic, should read “subsection (f)”]. (b) Psychiatric or psychological examination and report. — prior to the date of the hearing, pursuant to subsection (c), the court shall order that a psychiatric or psychological examination of the defendant be conducted, and that a psychiatric or psychological report be filed with the court.... (c) Hearing. — a hearing shall be conducted pursuant to the provisions of section 4247(d) and shall take place not later than forty days following the special verdict. (d) Burden of proof. — In a hearing pursuant to subsection (c) of this section, a person found not guilty only by reason of insanity of an offense involving bodily injury to, or serious damage to the property of, another person, or involving a substantial risk of such injury or damage, has the burden of proving by clear and convincing evidence that his release would not create a substantial risk of bodily injury to another person or serious damage of property of another due to a present mental disease or defect. With respect to any other offense, the person has the burden of such proof by a preponderance of the evidence. (e) Det”
4 later decisions 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.