Swart v. State’s Empirical Analysis

Citation profile

17 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 18 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.

1. “In analyzing the constitutionality of a statute under the equal protection clause, the U.S. Supreme Court has developed a two tiered test: First, the Court has held that “equal protection analysis requires strict scrutiny of a legislative classification ... when the classification impermissibly interferes with the exercise of a fundamental right or operates to the peculiar disadvantage of a suspect class.” (cite omitted). Classifications subjected to strict scrutiny will be upheld only if they are substantially related to an extremely important or compelling end of government. If the classification does not invoke analysis under the strict scrutiny tier, the legislation is then analyzed under the “rational relationship test.” Under this approach, a legislative classification “must be reasonable, not arbitrary, and must rest upon some ground of difference having a fair and substantial relation to the object of the legislation, so that all persons similarly circumstanced shall be treated alike.” Royster Guano Co. v. Virginia, 253 U.S. 412, 415 , 40 S.Ct. 560, 561 , 64 L.Ed. 989 (1920). In short, the challenged classification must be “rationally related to a legitimate state interest.” City of New Orleans v. Dukes, 427 U.S. 297, 303 , 96 S.Ct. 2513, 2517 , 49 L.Ed.2d 511 (1976). Under this second tier, “a State does not violate the Equal Protection Clause merely because the classifications made by its laws are imperfect.” Danridge v. Williams, 397 U.S. 471, 485 , 90 S.Ct. 1153, ”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage
   e.g. Crawford v. State

2. “Parole is a discretionary act of the Governor which releases a person from jail, prison or other confinement, after actually serving a part of the sentence. Probation, on the other hand, relates to judicial action taken before the prison door is closed, and is part of the sentence imposed.”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage · from the dissent
   e.g. TRYON v. STATE

3. “equal protection analysis requires strict scrutiny of a legislative classification ... when the classification impermissibly interferes with the exercise of a fundamental right or operates to the peculiar disadvantage of a suspect class.”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage
   e.g. 2009 OK CR 7 - Horn v. State