West v. State’s Empirical Analysis
1974
Citation profile
2 federal appellate · 18 state decisions
How this case has been cited
Cited by 24 later decisions (1 by the Supreme Court) — most recently April 2019
2 federal appellate · 18 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 18 U.S.C. § 1461 · 18 U.S.C. § 1462
Relies on Hamling v. United States · Roth v. United States · Miller v. California · Bouie v. City of Columbia · Dennis v. United States
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 24 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.
“Definitions. In this subchapter: (1) “Obscene” means having as a whole a dominant theme that: (A) appeals to a pArient interest in sex, nudity, or excretion; (B) is patently offensive because it affronts contemporary community standards relating to the description or representation of sex, nudity, or excretion; and (C) is utterly without redeeming social value. (2) “Material” means a book, magazine, newspaper, or other printed or written material; a picture, drawing, photograph, motion picture, or other pictorial representation; a statue or other figure; a recording, transcription, or mechanical, chemical, or electrical reproduction; or other article, equipment, or machine. (3) “Prurient interest” means a shameful or morbid interest in nudity, sex, or excretion that goes substantially beyond customary limits of candor in description or representation of such matters. If it appears from the character of the material or the circumstances of its dissemination that the subject matter is designed for a specially susceptible audience, the appeal of the subject matter shall be judged with reference to such audience. (4) “Distribute” means to transfer possession, whether with or without consideration. (5) “Commercially distribute” means to transfer possession for valuable consideration.”
1 later decision quote this exact passage · from the concurrence
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.