Williams v. Pennsylvania’s Empirical Analysis

Citation profile

27 federal appellate · 95 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 165 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.

1. “to be neutral, or whether there is an unconstitutional”

   9 later decisions quote this exact passage · from the majority
   e.g. Echavarria v. Filson · Rippo v. Baker

2. “Presumptive bias occurs when a judge may not actually be biased, but has the appearance of bias such that 'the probability of actual bias ... is too high to be constitutionally tolerable.' " Id. The Supreme Court has only found that a judge's failure to recuse constitutes presumptive bias in three situations: (1) when the judge has a direct personal, substantial, and pecuniary interest in the outcome of the case; (2) when the judge has been the target of personal abuse or criticism from the party before him; and (3) when the judge has the dual role of investigating and adjudicating disputes and complaints. Id. "[B]ias by an adjudicator is not lightly established.”

   4 later decisions quote this exact passage · from the dissent
   e.g. Jordan v. U.S. Dep't of Labor · State v. Leger

3. “[d]ue process guarantees 'an absence of actual bias' on the part of a judge.”

   4 later decisions quote this exact passage · from the majority
   e.g. Jordan v. U.S. Dep't of Labor · 152 Ohio St. 3d 1468 - State v. Beasley