Smith v. United States’s Empirical Analysis
568 U.S. 106 · 2013
Citation profile
7 federal appellate · 4 district · 14 state decisions
Appellate journey
reviewedthe decision below (from District of Columbia Circuit Court of Appeals)
Relationships
Applies 18 U.S.C. § 1962 (§ 901 of the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act) · 18 U.S.C. § 3282 · 21 U.S.C. § 846 (§ 406 of the Controlled Substances Act) · 21 U.S.C. § 848 (§ 408 of the Controlled Substances Act)
Relies on In the Matter of Samuel Winship · Pinkerton v. United States · Patterson v. New York · Grunewald v. United States · Leland v. Oregon
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 58 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.
“the Due Process Clause requires the prosecution to prove beyond a reasonable doubt all of the elements included in the definition of the offense of which the defendant is charged[,] ... [p]roof of the nonexistence of all affirmative defenses has never been constitutionally required.”
2 later decisions quote this exact passage · from the majority“Where [an affirmative defense] 'excuse[s] conduct that would otherwise be punishable,' but 'does not controvert any of the elements of the offense itself,' the Government has no constitutional duty to overcome the defense beyond a reasonable doubt.”
1 later decision quote this exact passage · from the dissent“[p]assive participation in the continuing scheme is not enough to sever the meeting of the minds that constitutes conspiracy”
1 later decision quote this exact passage · from the dissent
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.