Harless v. State’s Empirical Analysis

Citation profile

22 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 22 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.

1. “[E]xigent circumstances justify dispensing with the search warrant, but do not eliminate the need for probable cause.”

   3 later decisions quote this exact passage
   e.g. Moore v. State · Meghan E. Price v. State of Indiana

2. “Exigent circumstances justifying a war-rantless search exist where the police . have an objective and reasonable fear that the evidence is about to be destroyed; the arresting officers must have a reasonable belief that there are people ... who are destroying or about to destroy the evidence. In such a case, the evidence's nature must be evanescent and the officers must fear its imminent destruction.”

   2 later decisions quote this exact passage
   e.g. Middleton v. State · Lee v. State

3. “Courts should take a very hard line against the search of a person's home without a warrant or consent; and, therefore, [courts should] demand a genuine showing of an emergency before they will excuse the police's failure to obtain a warrant.”

   2 later decisions quote this exact passage
   e.g. Kendall v. State · Cudworth v. State