United States v. MacPherson’s Empirical Analysis
664 F.2d 69 · 1981
Citation profile
29 federal appellate · 1 state decisions
Relationships
Applies 19 U.S.C. § 1581 (Tariff Act of 1930) · 21 U.S.C. § 841 (§ 401 of the Controlled Substances Act) · 21 U.S.C. § 952
Relies on United States v. Martinez-Fuerte · Atlantic Richfield Co. v. Newman Oil Co. · United States v. Ramsey · Finch v. Connor · Cunard Co v. Mellon
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 35 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.
“The sea border is an imaginary line in the ocean that bends and twists to follow an ever changing coast. United States v. Freeman, 579 F.2d 942 , 946 (5th Cir.1978). Each movement of a vessel changes its position relative to that coastline; and a boat running laterally along the coast might be a half mile outside the border at one point and well within the border at another. Thus, fishing boats trolling near the border ... may enter and leave the territorial waters several times a day. At a given moment it is not likely [to] know whether they were within or without the territory of the United States. The sea border has no fixed entry points like its land counterpart ... no natural or manmade objects mark its path. A vessel’s position relative to the border can only be estimated; it cannot be determined precisely.”
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.