Ex Parte Ward’s Empirical Analysis

Citation profile

17 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 23 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.

1. “In [Ward III ], the court held that the Texas Controlled Substances Tax becomes due immediately upon a person’s “possession” of a taxable substance. Therefore, liability on the tax is not dependent on a person’s receipt of a tax determination notice from the comptroller’s office. Rather, once a person is found in possession of a taxable substance containing no payment certificates, the comptroller is responsible for collecting any unpaid taxes. This court concluded that under the Supreme Court’s holding in Kurth Ranch , the automatic statutory imposition of the tax cannot constitute “punishment.” The court reasoned that imposition of the tax, notice of the tax determination, imposition of the tax lien, and payment of a portion of the tax does not constitute “punishment” so as to bar subsequent criminal proceedings. The only way that a defendant can be “punished” so as to bar a subsequent criminal prosecution is by a final judgment of tax liability or by divestiture of ownership of property rights. “Absent full payment of the tax or a pay arrangement with the comptroller’s office for the remaining amount due, there is no ‘punishment’ for purposes of the Double Jeopardy Clause’s prohibition against multiple punishments.””

   1 later decision quote this exact passage · from the majority
   e.g. 144 F. Supp. 2d 709 - Ledford v. Thomas

2. “Whether a particular punishment is criminal or civil is, at least initially, a matter of statutory construction. A court must first ask whether the legislature, in establishing the penalizing mechanism, indicated either expressly or impliedly a preference of one label or the other. Even in those cases where the legislature has indicated an intention to establish a civil penalty, we have inquired further whether the statutory scheme was so punitive either in purpose or effect as to transform what was clearly intended as a civil remedy into a criminal penalty.”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage · from the majority
   e.g. Ex Parte Drake

3. “[T]he modern development of constitutional jurisprudence makes the resolution of jeopardy questions depend, in most contexts, upon a doctrine known as the attachment of jeopardy. Thus, before it can be said that an accused has been put in jeopardy a second time, in violation of the Texas or United States Constitution, it must appear that he was actually put in jeopardy before.”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage · from the majority
   e.g. State v. Almendarez