Aden v. Younger’s Empirical Analysis

Citation profile

4 federal appellate · 20 state decisions

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.

1. “[T]he right to privacy [ ] clearly includes privacy of the mind. The right to be free in the exercise of one’s own thoughts is essential to the exercise of other constitutionally guaranteed rights.... Here the state has sought to control neither what is thought by mental patients, nor how they think. Rather, the state is attempting to regulate the use of procedures which touch upon thought processes in significant ways, with neither the intention nor the effect of regulating thought processes, per se.... Freedom of thought is intimately touched upon by any regulation of procedures affecting thought and feelings. ... [T]he state has put procedural and substantive obstacles in the path of those who both need and desire certain forms of treatment, and in that way their freedom of thought remains impaired because they cannot get treatment.... Public exposure, or even disclosure to limited numbers of government representatives, may have a chilling effect on patients’ efforts to undergo these treatments, thereby restricting their freedom of thought.... Although the reasons for such denials [of treatment] may be the patients’ own best interests, such regulation must be justified by a compelling state interest.”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage
   e.g. Shields v. Burge

2. ““Where informed consent is adequately insured, there is no justification for infringing upon the patient’s right to privacy in selecting and consenting to the treatment. The state has varied interests which are served by the regulation of ECT, but these interests are not served where the patient and his physician are the best judges of the patient’s health, safety and welfare. “. . . Any possible need which exists for the voluntary and competent patient cannot prevail in the face of the serious infringement to the patient’s right to privacy as guaranteed by Roe v. Wade, supra, 410 U.S. 113 and Doe v. Bolton, supra, 410 U.S. 179 .” (Aden v. Younger, supra, 57 Cal.App.3d 662, 684 .)”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage
   e.g. 23 Cal. 3d 697 - People v. Privitera