Smith v. United States’s Empirical Analysis

Citation profile

22 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 22 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.

1. “[Reasonable doubt] is a term that we throw around that has come to mean or has come to have been used in some arguments as meaning you can’t have any question left in your mind, whatsoever. And that’s simply not reasonable doubt. You’re going to hear the instruction about what reasonable doubt is. And reasonable doubt is the kind of doubt that would cause a reasonable person[], after careful and thoughtful reflection, to hesitate to act in the graver or more important matters of life. However, it is not an imaginary doubt, nor a doubt based on speculation or guesswork; it is a doubt based on reason. The government is not required to prove guilt beyond all doubt, or to a mathematical or scientific certainty. Its burden is to prove guilt beyond a reasonable doubt. So it is not reasonable doubt to be able to say I have one more question: Therefore, reasonable doubt, not guilty. Reasonable doubt is the kind of doubt you would have about any serious decision that you face in your life. And this is a serious decision which you’re now facing. Think about what level of certainty you need when you do anything like getting a job, getting married, moving, any of those things. You’re always still going to have questions. There’s one more question you could ask, one more person you could talk to before you get a job. There’s certainly one more question you could ask before you get married, or get in a committed relationship with a partner. I bet those of you that are married or in committ”

   6 later decisions quote this exact passage
   e.g. DANIEL GRIFFIN v. UNITED STATES · Blaine v. United States

2. “Reasonable doubt, as the name implies, is a doubt based upon reason, a doubt for which you can give a reason, it’s such a doubt as would cause one of you, ladies and gentlemen, after careful and candid and impartial consideration of — of all the evidence to be so undecided that you could not say you are firmly convinced of the defendant’s guilt. It is such a doubt as would cause a reasonable person to hesitate or pause in the graver or more important transactions of life. However, it's not a fanciful or whimsical doubt, nor a doubt based upon guesswork, it is a doubt which is based upon reason. The Government is not required to establish guilt beyond all doubt or to a mathematical or scientific certainty, its burden is to establish guilt beyond a reasonable doubt.”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage · from the concurrence
   e.g. Brown v. United States

3. “Given the great risks to the integrity of the trial which attend a deficient reason.able, doubt instruction, the uncertainties and controversies generated by varying definitions, and. the importance of fairness, and the appearance of fairness in our justice system, the greater part of wisdom would dictate that the trial court .give the standard instruction approved here, which has been determined to be ■faithful to the constitutional meaning of reasonable doubt. Therefore, we state, in the strongest - terms, that the trial court should. resist the . temptation to stray from, or embellish upon, that instruction.”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage
   e.g. DANIEL GRIFFIN v. UNITED STATES