8 canonical passages across 6 cases, quoted by 97 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 Dennis v. United States.
| # | Case | Flag | Canonical passage | Citers |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Dennis v. United States Anchor | green | “the existence of a mens rea is the rule of, rather than the exception to, the principles of anglo-american criminal jurisprudence.” | 32 |
| 2 | Liparota v. United States | green | “application of the rule of lenity ensures that criminal statutes will provide fair warning concerning conduct rendered illegal and strikes the appropriate balance between the legislature, the prosecutor, and the court in defining criminal liability.” | 15 |
| 3 | United States v. X-Citement Video, Inc. | green | “the presumption in favor of a scienter requirement should apply to each of the statutory elements that criminalize otherwise innocent conduct.” | 15 |
| 4 | United States v. United States Gypsum Co. | green | “certainly far more than the simple omission of the appropriate phrase from the statutory definition is necessary to justify dispensing with an intent requirement.” | 14 |
| 5 | United States v. X-Citement Video, Inc. | green | “most natural grammatical reading” | 12 |
| 6 | United States v. Henry Nash Riley | green | “sex crimes committed against the vulnerable, such as an unconscious or intoxicated individual, are particularly egregious and dehumanizing.” | 4 |
| 7 | Hi Holdridge, A/K/A Hiram Holdridge, Larry Shumm and Neil Delmar Haworth v. United States | green | “where a federal criminal statute omits mention of intent and . . . where the penalty is relatively small, where conviction does not gravely besmirch, and where the statutory crime is not one taken over from the common law, . . . the statute can be construed as one not requiring …” | 3 |
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.