Briggs v. Goodwin’s Empirical Analysis

Citation profile

20 federal appellate · 9 district · 9 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 49 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.

1. “The prosecution makes a host of discretionary and judgmental decisions in preparing its case. It would be virtually impossible for an appellant or a court to sort out how any particular piece of information in the possession of the prosecution was consciously or subconsciously factored into each of those decisions.”

   2 later decisions quote this exact passage
   e.g. United States v. Danielson · State v. Robins

2. “[a] deliberate attempt by the government to obtain defense strategy information or to otherwise interfere with the attorney-defendant relationship through the use of an undercover agent may constitute a per se violation of the Sixth Amendment”

   2 later decisions quote this exact passage · from the concurrence
   e.g. State v. Robinson · Shillinger v. Haworth

3. “The threat of significant harm required by Weatherford [v. Bursey, 429 U.S. 545 [ 97 S.Ct. 837 , 51 L.Ed.2d 30 ] (1977),] does not, however, have to amount to ‘prejudice’ in the sense of altering the actual outcome of the trial. Although the Sixth Amendment is concerned primarily with fairness at trial, it is not limited to that function. The right to counsel protects the whole range of the accused’s interests implicated by a criminal prosecution. These interests may extend beyond the wish for exoneration to include, for example, the possibilities of a lesser charge, a lighter sentence, or the alleviation of the practical burdens of a trial.”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage
   e.g. Edmond v. United States Postal Service General Counsel