United States v. Moore’s Empirical Analysis
643 F.3d 451 · 2011
Citation profile
6 federal appellate · 1 state decisions
Relationships
Applies 18 U.S.C. § 922 (Brady Handgun Violence Prevention Act) · 18 U.S.C. § 924
Relies on Furman v. Georgia · Solem v. Helm · Harmelin v. Michigan · Atkins v. Virginia · Roper Superintendent Potosi Correctional Center v. Simmons
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 23 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.
“Fifteen years is by any measure a considerable amount of time. But while “[sjevere mandatory penalties may be cruel, ... they are not unusual in the constitutional sense, having been employed in various forms throughout our Nation’s history.” Harmelin, 501 U.S. at 994-95, 111 S.Ct. 2680 . In general, Eighth Amendment jurisprudence grants “substantial deference” to the legislatures who determine the types and limits of punishments. Id. at 999, 111 S.Ct. 2680 , 115 L.Ed.2d 836 (Kennedy, J., concurring). It is settled that legislatures may define criminal punishments without giving courts sentencing discretion. Id. at 1006, 111 S.Ct. 2680 (citing Chapman v. United States, 500 U.S. 453 , 467, 111 S.Ct. 1919 , 114 L.Ed.2d 524 (1991). In fact, this Court has previously held that the very punishment Moore received — fifteen years under the Armed Career Criminal Act— withstands Eighth Amendment review as applied to the facts of those cases. United States v. Warren, 973 F.2d 1304 , 1311 (6th Cir.1992); United States v. Pedigo, 879 F.3d [F.2d] 1315, 1320 (6th Cir.1989). Other courts of appeals have reached the same conclusion. See, e.g., United States v. Cardoza, 129 F.3d 6 , 18 (1st Cir.1997); United States v. Presley, 52 F.3d 64 , 68 (4th Cir.1995); United States v. Hayes, 919 F.2d 1262 , 1266 (7th Cir.1990); United States v. Baker, 850 F.2d 1365 , 1372 (9th Cir.1988); United States v. Reynolds, 215 F.3d 1210 , 1214 (11th Cir.2000). And we are aware of no court of appeals decision th”
2 later decisions quote this exact passage · from the concurrence“[a] sentence within the statutory maximum set by statute generally does not constitute ‘cruel and unusual punishment.’ ”
1 later decision quote this exact passage · from the concurrence
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.