Marsh v. Arn’s Empirical Analysis

Citation profile

50 federal appellate · 1 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 90 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.

1. “both point unmistakenly to the unconstitutionality of the conduct complained of and be so clearly foreshadowed by applicable direct authority as to leave no doubt in the mind of a reasonable officer that his conduct, if challenged on constitutional grounds, would be found wanting.”

   3 later decisions quote this exact passage
   e.g. Taylor v. Michigan Department of Corrections E Ae · Juide v. City of Ann Arbor

2. “In deciding the legal question of whether a reasonable official would have known that the alleged actions violate “clearly established” law, a court must determine whether the actions would infringe “particularized” rights claimed by the plaintiff. ... ‘[T]he contours of the right must be sufficiently clear that a reasonable official would understand that what he is doing violates that right.’ ... The unlawfulness of the action must be apparent when assessed from the perspective of an objectively reasonable official charged with knowledge of established law ...; the defendant’s subjective motives are irrelevant to the qualified immunity inquiry____”

   2 later decisions quote this exact passage
   e.g. 794 F. Supp. 768 - Pesek v. City of Brunswick · 811 F. Supp. 1221 - Harrington v. Grayson

3. “the doctrine of qualified immunity is no defense to municipal corporations which may otherwise be liable for federal constitutional violations under [42 U.S.C. Sec. 1983].”

   2 later decisions quote this exact passage
   e.g. Term Auto Sales, Inc. v. The City of Cleveland · Barber v. City of Salem