7 canonical passages across 7 cases, quoted by 190 opinions in total. These passages cluster together because the same opinions keep quoting them side by side — they state parts of one doctrine. The anchor passage is from Greenholtz v. Inmates of the Nebraska Penal & Correctional Complex.
| # | Case | Flag | Canonical passage | Citers |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Greenholtz v. Inmates of the Nebraska Penal & Correctional Complex Anchor | green | “there is no constitutional or inherent right of a convicted person to be conditionally released before the expiration of a valid sentence.” | 165 |
| 2 | John H. Block v. Edwin Potter | green | “once a state institutes a parole system all prisoners have a liberty interest flowing directly from the due process clause in not being denied parole for arbitrary or constitutionally impermissible reasons.” | 5 |
| 3 | Small v. Horn | green | “where the challenged governmental action does not burden 'fundamental' or 'important' rights, and does not make a suspect classification or a quasi-suspect classification, it does not offend the equal protection clause as long as it is rationally related to a legitimate governme…” | 4 |
| 4 | Commonwealth v. Allburn | green | “an abuse of discretion is not merely an error of judgment, but if in reaching a conclusion the law is overridden or misapplied or the judgment was manifestly unreasonable, or the result of partiality, prejudice, bias, or ill will, as shown by the evidence or the record, discreti…” | 4 |
| 5 | Stewart v. Pennsylvania Board of Probation & Parole | green | “parole is not a right in pennsylvania, so the mere act of refusing parole cannot be cruel and unusual punishment.” | 4 |
| 6 | Commonwealth v. Finley | green | “a prisoner has no absolute right to be released from prison on parole upon the expiration of the prisoner's minimum term.” | 4 |
| 7 | Weaver v. Pennsylvania Board of Probation & Parole | green | “parole is, nothing more than a possibility, and, when granted, it is nothing more than a favor granted upon a prisoner by the state as a matter of grace and mercy shown by the commonwealth to -a convict who has. demonstrated a probability of his ability to function as a law-abid…” | 4 |
A red or yellow flag on a member means the underlying case has negative treatment — for those, check the case page before relying on the passage.