Washington v. Smith’s Empirical Analysis

Citation profile

2 federal appellate · 1 district ·

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

1. “There is no question that Washington was in custody pursuant to a state court judgment when he filed his petition: he was serving his two and a half year sentence of imprisonment and, according to our docket, still is. But Washington’s petition — at least the claim certified for appeal — attacks only the calculation of the amount he owes in restitution. In Barnickel v. United States, 113 F.3d 704 (7th Cir.1997), this court ruled that a § 2255 motion — the federal prisoner’s equivalent to a § 2254 petition attacking a criminal judgment entered by a state court — is unavailable to challenge a restitution order imposed as part of a criminal sentence. Id. at 706 [.] Washington couches his claim in the sixth amendment and, thus, adequately alleges a constitutional violation. But should he win, the only possible benefit to him will be a lower payment to his victim; he will still be obligated to serve two and a half years in prison and three years on supervision. Washington’s attack on counsel’s handling of the restitution amount simply does not state a cognizable claim for relief under § 2254.”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage · from the majority
   e.g. Bailey v. Hill