United States v. Laura’s Empirical Analysis
607 F.2d 52 · 1979
Citation profile
29 federal appellate · 1 district · 24 state decisions
How this case has been cited
Cited by 68 later decisions (1 by the Supreme Court) — most recently July 2021 · most notably Caplin & Drysdale, Chartered v. United States (1989), United States v. Voigt (1996)
29 federal appellate · 1 district · 24 state decisions — followed in 15 states
Later decisions citing this case, by decade. The current decade is in progress, and our corpus holds fewer opinions from the most recent years, so the latest bars are undercounted — not a real decline.
Relationships
Applies 18 U.S.C. § 2 · 21 U.S.C. § 841 (§ 401 of the Controlled Substances Act) · 21 U.S.C. § 952 · 21 U.S.C. § 963 · 28 U.S.C. § 455
Relies on Chapman v. State of California · Johnson v. Zerbst · Faretta v. California · Gideon v. Wainwright · Powell v. State of Alabama Patterson
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 68 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.
“Attorneys are not fungible, as are eggs, apples and oranges. Attorneys may differ as to their trial strategy, their oratory style, or the importance they give to particular legal issues. These differences, all within the range of effective and competent advocacy, may be important in the development of a defense. It is generally the defendant’s right to make a choice from the available counsel in the development of his defense. Given this reality, a defendant’s decision to select a particular attorney [is] critical....”
5 later decisions quote this exact passage · from the majority“the most important decision a defendant makes in shaping his defense is his selection of an attorney.”
3 later decisions quote this exact passage · from the majority“Even the intelligent and educated layman has small and sometimes no skill in the science of law ... He lacks both the skill and knowledge adequately to prepare his defense, even though he have a perfect one. He requires the guiding hand of counsel at every step in the proceedings against him. Without it, though he may be not guilty, he faces the danger of conviction because he does not know how to establish his innocence.”
1 later decision quote this exact passage · from the majority
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.