United States v. Cothran’s Empirical Analysis

Citation profile

5 federal appellate · 6 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 15 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.

1. “Detective Hairston testified that if a passenger refuses to permit a search of his or her bags or claims not to have identification, he "might be suspicious" and, depending on the conversation with the passenger, would notify authorities at the next stop that he suspected the passenger of carrying drugs. Thus, denying a police officer's request to search could result in further scrutiny and questioning at every stop. Any reasonable person would feel less than free to refuse a police search if aware that refusal to cooperate could lead to repeated harassment. As the hour became late, police in every city down the line could board the bus and wake the uncooperative passenger.”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage · from the majority
   e.g. In Re JM

2. “the product of the unlawful seizure and her involuntary denial of ownership of the bag.”

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

3. “so intimidating that it compels compliance,”

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