United States v. Govro’s Empirical Analysis

Citation profile

9 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 10 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.

1. “The government may appeal in a criminal case under 18 U.S.C. § 3731 unless the Double Jeopardy Clause bars further prosecution. The Double Jeopardy Clause bars further prosecution when the court enters a judgment of acquittal and reversal necessitates a new trial. An acquittal based on a ruling that the government’s evidence is legally insufficient to sustain a conviction therefore may not be appealed. This is true even if the acquittal was entered for erroneous reasons.”

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

2. “A defendant is acquitted and a government appeal barred ... when the judge's ruling, whatever its label, actually represents a resolution in defendant's favor, correct or not, of some or all of the factual elements of the charged offense.”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage · from the majority
   e.g. People of Territory of Guam v. Camacho