Johnson v. Singletary’s Empirical Analysis

Citation profile

8 federal appellate · 8 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. “to show 'actual innocence' one must show by clear and convincing evidence that but for a constitutional error, no reasonable juror would have found the petitioner eligible for the death penalty under the applicable state law.”

   2 later decisions quote this exact passage · from the majority
   e.g. Alderman v. Zant · Roberts v. Singletary

2. “Unless a habeas petitioner shows cause and prejudice, a court may not reach the merits of: (a) successive claims that raise grounds identical to grounds heard and decided on the merits in a previous petition; (b) new claims, not previously raised, which constitute an abuse of the writ; or (e) procedurally defaulted claims in which the petitioner failed to follow applicable state procedural rules in raising the claims.... [E]ven if a state prisoner cannot meet the cause and prejudice standard, a federal court may hear the merits of the successive claims if the failure to hear the claims would constitute a “miscarriage of justice.””

   1 later decision quote this exact passage · from the majority
   e.g. Martinez High v. Turpin