Thomas v. Illinois’s Empirical Analysis

Citation profile

5 federal appellate · 1 district · 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 26 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.

1. “Depending on how extensive the infestation of a prisoner’s cell is, what the infesting pests are, what odors or bites or risk of disease they create, what particular psychological sensitivities the prisoner was known to have (recall Winston’s unreasoning fear of rats in Nineteen Eighty-Four, a fear exploited by his torturers to break his spirit without actually touching him, Lindale v. Tokheim Corp., 145 F.3d 953 , 955 (7th Cir. 1998)), and how long the infestation con tinues, a trier of fact might reasonably conclude that the prisoner had been subjected to harm sufficient to support a claim of cruel and unusual punishment even if he had not contracted a disease or suffered any physical pain.”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage · from the majority
   e.g. Gray v. Hardy

2. “No Federal civil action may be brought by a prisoner ... for mental or emotional injury ... without a prior showing of physical injury.”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage · from the majority
   e.g. 934 F. Supp. 2d 323 - Cryer v. Spencer