6 canonical passages across 5 cases, quoted by 62 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 United States v. Willis.
| # | Case | Flag | Canonical passage | Citers |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | United States v. Willis Anchor | green | “a defendant can challenge a final conviction, but only on issues of constitutional or jurisdictional magnitude.” | 28 |
| 2 | Leon Ross, Jr. v. W.J. Estelle, Jr., Director, Texas Department of Corrections | green | “absent evidence in the record, a court cannot consider a habeas petitioner's bald assertions on a critical issue in his pro se petition , unsupported and unsupportable by anything else contained in the record, to be of probative evidentiary value.” | 9 |
| 3 | James D. Koch v. Steve W. Puckett, Superintendent of Mississippi State Penitentiary | green | “ere conclusory allegations on a critical issue are insufficient to raise a constitutional issue.” | 9 |
| 4 | United States v. Kenneth Karl Kimler | green | “an attorney's failure to raise a meritless argument . . . cannot form the basis of a successful ineffective assistance of counsel claim because the result of the proceeding would not have been different had the attorney raised the issue.” | 7 |
| 5 | James D. Koch v. Steve W. Puckett, Superintendent of Mississippi State Penitentiary | green | “this court has made clear that counsel is not required to make futile motions or objections.” | 5 |
| 6 | Crane v. Johnson | green | “the mere possibility of a different outcome is not sufficient to prevail on the prejudice prong.” | 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.