77 Wash. 2d 130 - State v. Laitinen’s Empirical Analysis
1969
Citation profile
3 federal appellate · 2 district · 37 state decisions
How this case has been cited
Cited by 43 later decisions — most recently May 2001 · most notably 93 Wash. 2d 329 - State v. Smith (1980), 91 Wash. 2d 19 - Duckworth v. City of Bonney Lake (1978)
3 federal appellate · 2 district · 37 state decisions — followed in 13 states
Later decisions citing this case, by decade. The current decade is in progress, and our corpus holds fewer opinions from the most recent years, so the latest bars are undercounted — not a real decline.
Relationships
Relies on Michigan National Bank v. Michigan · Maxwell v. Bishop · Shea v. Olson · Everhardt v. City of New Orleans · 56 Wash. 2d 425 - Clark v. Dwyer
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 43 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.
“It is not the court's function to decide whether the statute is sound or unsound, wise or unwise, effectual or ineffectualbut only whether it is within the legislature's constitutional powers to enact it”
4 later decisions quote this exact passage“The legislature could also reasonably assume--and legislate on such assumption--that the public welfare and safety is substantially affected by the dangers arising from motorcycle riding. The public has already assumed many burdens and responsibilities in helping ameliorate the effects of accidents. It has at public expense substantially provided emergency ambulance, medical and hospital care for persons injured on the public highways and supplied medical, surgical and hospital services for indigent persons so injured. The public has undertaken the basic responsibility of policing the public highways and regulating traffic thereon both in the interests of safety and efficiency, and has utilized the state and its political subdivisions to carry these burdens. The greater the number of serious injuries to the head and upper spine suffered by motorcycle riders, the greater the burdens it can reasonably be said are imposed on the publicly supplied or regulated medical, hospital, ambulance and police services. There thus exists a reasonably manifest connection between the use of protective helmets by motorcycle riders and the public health, welfare and safety. Accordingly, requiring motorcycle riders to wear protective helmets of a type approved by the state commission on equipment when riding upon the public highways is a legitimate and reasonable exercise of the police power, and RCW 46.37-530(3) is a constitutional declaration thereof.”
3 later decisions quote this exact passage“[A]ll that is constitutionally required of the legislature is that a state of facts can reasonably be conceived to exist which would justify the legislation. If the courts can reasonably conceive of such a state of facts, they must presume that such facts actually did exist and that the statute being tested was passed with reference to them.”
3 later decisions quote this exact passage
How this case has been treated — in progress
Whether each later court followed, distinguished, criticized, or overruled this decision. The treatment classification (task #35) runs highest-cited cases first and lights up here as it reaches this one.