Ballinger v. Prelesnik’s Empirical Analysis

Citation profile

4 federal appellate ·

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

1. “In Brown , we concluded that the state court had not issued a decision on the merits because highly relevant documents were absent from the trial court record. To the extent that Brown is inconsistent with Harrington’s definition of “on the merits,” however, it is no longer the law. It is now clear that a state-court adjudication, even when unaccompanied by an explanation, is presumed to be on the merits and is to be reviewed through the deferential lens of § 2254(d).”

   2 later decisions quote this exact passage · from the majority
   e.g. Garuti v. Roden · 542 F. App'x 472 - Edward Lint v. John Prelesnik

2. “[w]hen a federal claim has been presented to a state court and the state court has denied relief, it may be presumed that the state court adjudicated the claim on the merits in the absence of any indication or state-law procedural principles to the contrary.”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage · from the majority
   e.g. Garuti v. Roden

3. “Accordingly, district courts are precluded from conducting evidentiary hearings to supplement existing state court records when a state court has issued a decision on the merits with respect to the claim at issue.”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage · from the majority
   e.g. Stermer v. Warren