Leocal v. Ashcroft’s Empirical Analysis
2004
Citation profile
1,064 federal appellate · 143 district · 44 state decisions
How this case has been cited
Cited by 2,079 later decisions (66 by the Supreme Court) — most recently December 2025 · most notably United States v. Stevens (2010), Lopez v. Gonzales (2006)
1,064 federal appellate · 143 district · 44 state decisions — followed in 11 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
reviewedDuan Le v. U.S. Attorney General (from Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals)
Relationships
Applies 18 U.S.C. § 16 · 18 U.S.C. § 1959 · 18 U.S.C. § 842 · 18 U.S.C. § 924 · 8 U.S.C. § 1101 (§ 101 of the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1952 (McCarran-Walter)) · 8 U.S.C. § 1182 (§ 212 of the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1952 (McCarran-Walter)) · 8 U.S.C. § 1227 (§ 237 of the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1952 (McCarran-Walter)) · 8 U.S.C. § 1252 (§ 242 of the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1952 (McCarran-Walter))
Relies on Bailey v. United States · Smith v. United States · George Duncan Superintendent Great Meadow Correctional Facility v. Sherman Walker · Pacheco-Medina v. Oregon
Cited together with Taylor v. United States · Shepard v. United States · James v. United States · Chevron U. S. A. Inc. v. Natural Resources Defense Council, Inc. · Gonzales v. Duenas-Alvarez
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 2,079 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.
“(a) an offense that has as an element the use, attempted use, or threatened use of physical force against the person or property of another, or (b) any other offense that is a felony and that, by its nature, involves a substantial risk that physical force against the person or property of another may be used in the course of committing the offense.”
143 later decisions quote this exact passage“use ... of physical force against the person or property of another”
34 later decisions quote this exact passage“§ 16(b) plainly does not encompass all offenses which create a “substantial risk” that injury will result from a person’s conduct. The “substantial risk” in § 16(b) relates to the use of force, not to the possible effect of a person’s conduct. Compare § 16(b) (requiring a “substantial risk that physical force against the person or property of another may be used”), with United States Sentencing Commission, Guidelines Manual § 4B1.2(a)(2) (Nov.2003) (in the context of a career-offender sentencing enhancement, defining “crime of violence” as meaning, inter alia, “conduct that presents a serious potential risk of physical injury to another”).”
28 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.