United States v. Terry’s Empirical Analysis

Citation profile

6 federal appellate · 2 district · 1 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 24 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.

1. “That a bribe doubles as a campaign contribution does not by itself insulate it from scrutiny. No doubt, a contribution is more likely to be a duty-free gift than a bribe because a contribution has a legitimate alternative explanation: The donor supports the candidate’s election for all manner of possible reasons. But the prosecution may rebut that alternative explanation, and context may show that an otherwise legitimate contribution is a bribe.”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage · from the concurrence
   e.g. State v. Flansbaum-Talabisco

2. “[B]ecause '[t]he illegal conduct [for a public official] is taking or agreeing to take money for a promise to act in a certain way,' . . . the government must prove that an agreement for a quid pro quo existed; that is, the receipt of something of value 'in exchange for' an official act.”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage · from the majority
   e.g. United States v. O'Donovan

3. “Not every campaign contribution, we recognize, is a bribe in sheep’s clothing. Without anything more, a jury could not reasonably infer that a campaign contribution is a bribe solely because a public official accepts a contribution and later takes an action that benefits a donor.”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage · from the concurrence
   e.g. State v. Flansbaum-Talabisco