United States v. Cobb’s Empirical Analysis
905 F.2d 784 · 1990
Citation profile
76 federal appellate · 2 district · 5 state decisions
How this case has been cited
Cited by 143 later decisions — most recently February 2026 · most notably United States v. Higgs (2003), United States v. Koon (1994)
76 federal appellate · 2 district · 5 state decisions
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
Applies 18 U.S.C. § 1512 · 18 U.S.C. § 242 · 18 U.S.C. § 3143 (Bail Reform Act of 1984) · 42 U.S.C. § 1983 (Civil Rights Act of 1871 / Section 1983 (Ku Klux Klan Act))
Relies on Graham v. Connor · Bell v. Wolfish · Missouri v. Continential Insurance Cos. · Vermont Yankee Nuclear Power Corp. v. Natural Resources Defense Council, Inc. · Russell v. United States
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 143 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.
“whether, taken as a whole, the instruction fairly states the controlling law.”
6 later decisions quote this exact passage · from the majority“in a good faith effort to maintain or restore discipline or maliciously and sadistically for the very purpose of causing harm.”
4 later decisions quote this exact passage · from the majority“[A]n order such as the one in this case can have a chilling effect on cautious attorneys, who might avoid giving advice on non-testimonial matters for fear of violating the court's directive.”
3 later decisions quote this exact passage · from the majority
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.