Smith v. Dixon’s Empirical Analysis

Citation profile

7 federal appellate · 3 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. “The court has read the paperwriting and considered the arguments in support of the claims set out therein. The court finds as a fact that Claims No. I, II, III, and IV [including the vagueness challenge], set forth no probable grounds for relief.”

   2 later decisions quote this exact passage · from the majority
   e.g. Smith v. Dixon · Smith v. Dixon

2. “it is not enough that this murder be heinous, atrocious or cruel as those terms have just been defined. This murder must have been especially heinous, atrocious, or cruel; and not every murder is especially so. For this murder to have been especially heinous, atrocious or cruel, any brutality which was involved in it must have excluded [sic] that which is normally present in any killing; or this murder must have been a conscienceless or pitiless crime which was unnecessarily torturous to the victim.”

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

3. “it is constitutionally impermissible to rest a death sentence on a determination made by a sentencer who has been led to believe that the responsibility for determining the appropriateness of the defendant's death rests elsewhere.”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage · from the majority
   e.g. Smith v. Dixon