Powell v. Thomas’s Empirical Analysis

Citation profile

17 federal appellate · 3 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 72 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.

1. “the facts supporting th[e] cause of action 'should have been apparent to any person with a reasonably prudent regard for his rights'”

   2 later decisions quote this exact passage · from the majority
   e.g. Ray v. Comm'r, Ala. Dep't of Corr. · Domineque Hakim Marcelle Ray v. Commissioner, Alabama Department of Corrections

2. “Powell claims that the basis of his first claim — that the ADOC’s lethal injection protocol violates the Eighth Amendment — has undergone a “significant change” ... because of the recent change in the anesthetic used to ensure that there is no pain during the remaining stages of the procedure. However, this very argument — that the ADOC’s change from sodium thiopental to pentobarbital, is a substantial or significant change in the lethal injection protocol— was rejected by a panel of this Court in Powell (Williams), where we held that “[t]he replacement of sodium thiopental with pentobarbital does not constitute a significant alteration in the ADOC’s lethal injection protocol.” (emphasis added). Indeed, as the Tenth Circuit has recognized, sodium thiopental and pentobarbital are both classified as barbiturates. See Pavatt v. Jones, 627 F.3d 1336 , 1337 (10th Cir.2010). They differ in their length of effect; sodium thiopental is “ultrashort-acting,” while pentobarbital is “intermediate-acting” — which simply means its effect lasts longer than that of sodium thiopental. Powell’s attempts to circumvent the holding of Powell (Williams) fall flat. As for Powell’s claim that Powell (Williams)’s key language is dicta, the Eleventh Circuit panel in that discussion was expressly addressing Williams’s claim that he had an Eighth Amendment right to know the details surrounding his execution. Williams had based his claim, in part, on Nelson, 541 U.S. at 639 , 124 S.Ct. 2117 , where the S”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage · from the majority
   e.g. Arthur v. Thomas

3. “[W]e recognize that Williams’s claim in Powell (Williams) was decided on an appeal from the district court’s denial of a motion for a temporary stay of execution. However, as the district court noted, no reason has been offered, and none can be envisioned, why Powell (Williams)’s holding would mean something different when analyzing whether a change in execution protocol is significant or substantial in either circumstance. In both cases, the allegations are identical, and the Powell (Williams) Court clearly went to the merits of the issue when ruling on the motion for stay. Thus, not only do we reject Powell’s suggestion that the district court erroneously relied on external evidence from Powell (Williams), and went beyond the face of Powell’s complaint in deciding this case, but we conclude that the district court did not err in basing its conclusion on our binding precedent in Powell (Williams), which applies here. Furthermore, in light of our binding precedent, we are obliged to reject Powell’s attempt to relitigate the issue of whether the ADOC’s action in changing the first drug in the lethal injection protocol from sodium thiopental to pentobarbital is a “significant” change for purposes of [the statute of limitations]. For these reasons, the district court did not err in determining that Powell’s claim is barred by the statute of limitations.”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage · from the majority
   e.g. Arthur v. Thomas