Descamps v. United States

Editor's Note :

Descamps v. United States

Opinion analysis: Virginia’s moratorium on uranium mining is not pre-empted, but the role of legislative purpose remains open for debate – Emily Hammond

Justices send cake sequel back to state court – Amy Howe

Opinion analysis: Court holds that First Amendment does not apply to private operator of public-access channels – Amy Howe

SCOTUSblog Coverage

SCOTUSblog Coverage

June 2019

Featured Posts

Sponsored by Casetext

SCOTUStalk see all

Email Digest Sign-Up

Merits Case Pages and Archives

Major Cases

Recent Decisions

Current Relists

Recent Special Features

Live Blog Archives

Merits Docket OT18 (June 17, 2019)

Merits Cases by Sitting

Majority Opinions by Author

Voting Breakdown Argued Cases

Majority Lineup 5-4 Decisions

June 2019

Download our App in the Apple Store

Videos see all

Peabody Award

Sigma Delta Chi

National Press Club Award

Silver Gavel Award

American Gavel Award

Webby Award

Conference of June 13, 2019

Docket No.	Op. Below	Argument	Opinion	Vote	Author	Term
11-9540	9th Cir.	Jan 7, 2013 Tr.Aud.	Jun 20, 2013	8-1	Kagan	OT 2012

Disclosure: Goldstein & Russell, P.C., whose attorneys work for or contribute to this blog in various capacities, is among the counsel to the NACDL as amicus curiae in this case.

Holding: Sentencing courts may not apply the modified categorical approach to a federal defendant when the crime of which the defendant was previously convicted has a single, indivisible set of elements.

Judgment: Reversed, 8-1, in an opinion by Justice Kagan on June 20, 2013. Justice Thomas filed an opinion concurring in the judgment. Justice Alito filed a dissenting opinion.

Opinion analysis: When is a burglary not a burglary? (Daniel Richman)
Details: Descamps v. United States (Tejinder Singh)
Argument recap: Court struggles with classifying prior burglary convictions across states and courtrooms (Daniel Richman)
Argument preview: When is a burglary a “burglary”? (Daniel Richman)
Court grants two more cases (Lyle Denniston)

Date	Proceedings and Orders (key to color coding)
Mar 19 2012	Petition for a writ of certiorari and motion for leave to proceed in forma pauperis filed. (Response due April 27, 2012)
Apr 18 2012	Order extending time to file response to petition to and including May 29, 2012.
May 21 2012	Order further extending time to file response to petition to and including June 28, 2012.
Jun 28 2012	Brief of respondent United States in opposition filed.
Jul 12 2012	DISTRIBUTED for Conference of September 24, 2012.
Jul 17 2012	Supplemental brief of petitioner Matthew Robert Descamps filed. (Distributed)
Aug 31 2012	Motion to proceed in forma pauperis is granted. The petition for a writ of certiorari is GRANTED limited to Question 1 presented by the petition.
Sep 11 2012	Motion to appoint counsel filed by petitioner Matthew Robert Descamps.
Oct 3 2012	Motion DISTRIBUTED for Conference of October 26, 2012.
Oct 5 2012	The time to file the joint appendix and petitioner's brief on the merits is extended to and including October 24, 2012.
Oct 5 2012	The time to file respondent's brief on the merits is extended to and including December 3, 2012.
Oct 18 2012	Motion to file volume II of the joint appendix under seal filed by petitioner Matthew Robert Descamps.
Oct 24 2012	Joint appendix filed. (Volume 1 of 2) (Statement of costs filed)
Oct 24 2012	Brief of petitioner Matthew Robert Descamps filed.
Oct 29 2012	Motion to appoint counsel filed by petitioner GRANTED. Dan B. Johnson, Esquire, of Spokane, Washington, is appointed to serve as counsel for the petitioner.
Oct 29 2012	Motion DISTRIBUTED for Conference of November 20, 2012.
Oct 31 2012	SET FOR ARGUMENT ON Monday, January 7, 2013.
Oct 31 2012	Brief amici curiae of National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers, et al. filed.
Nov 16 2012	CIRCULATED.
Nov 26 2012	Motion to file volume II of the joint appendix under seal GRANTED.
Dec 3 2012	Brief of respondent United States filed. (Distributed)
Dec 5 2012	Record recieved from U.S.C.A. for 9th Circuit. (1 box).
Dec 5 2012	Record from U.S.D.C. for Eastern District of Washingon is electronic. There is 1 sealed envelope received from U.S.C.A. for 9th Circuit) that is a part of U.S.D.C. record.
Dec 27 2012	Reply of petitioner Matthew Robert Descamps filed. (Distributed)
Jan 7 2013	Argued. For petitioner: Dan B. Johnson, Spokane, Wash. (Appointed by this Court.) For respondent: Benjamin J. Horwich, Assistant to the Solicitor General, Department of Justice, Washington, D. C.
Jun 20 2013	Judgment REVERSED. Kagan, J., delivered the opinion of the Court, in which Roberts, C. J., and Scalia, Kenendy, Ginsburg, Breyer, and Sotomayor, JJ., joined. Kennedy, J., filed a concurring opinion. Thomas, J., filed an opinion concurring in the judgment. Alito, J., filed a dissenting opinion.
Jul 3 2013	Petition for Rehearing filed.
Aug 8 2013	DISTRIBUTED.
Aug 30 2013	Rehearing DENIED.
Aug 30 2013	JUDGMENT ISSUED.
Sep 4 2013	Record returned to U.S.C.A. for 9th Circuit.

Featured Posts

Opinion analysis: Virginia’s moratorium on uranium mining is not pre-empted, but the role of legislative purpose remains open for debate – Emily Hammond

Justices send cake sequel back to state court – Amy Howe

Opinion analysis: Court holds that First Amendment does not apply to private operator of public-access channels – Amy Howe
Sponsored by Casetext
SCOTUStalk see all
Email Digest Sign-Up
Receive a daily email digest from Feedburner by entering your email.
Merits Case Pages and Archives

Archives

or

This Week at the Court
The Supreme Court released orders from the June 13 conference on Monday; the justices granted, vacated and remanded Klein v. Oregon Bureau of Labor and Industries.
Also on Monday, the justices released their opinions in four argued cases: Manhattan Community Access Corp. v. Halleck, Virginia Uranium Inc. v. Warren, Gamble v. United States and Virginia House of Delegates v. Bethune-Hill.
On Thursday, we expect the Supreme Court to release opinions in one or more argued cases. The justices will meet for their June 20 conference.
Major Cases
- Department of Commerce v. New York
  (1) Whether the district court erred in enjoining the secretary of the Department of Commerce from reinstating a question about citizenship to the 2020 decennial census on the ground that the secretary’s decision violated the Administrative Procedure Act, 5 U.S.C. 701 et seq; (2) whether, in an action seeking to set aside agency action under the APA, a district court may order discovery outside the administrative record to probe the mental processes of the agency decisionmaker -- including by compelling the testimony of high-ranking executive branch officials -- without a strong showing that the decisionmaker disbelieved the objective reasons in the administrative record, irreversibly prejudged the issue, or acted on a legally forbidden basis; and (3) whether the secretary’s decision to add a citizenship question to the decennial census violated the enumeration clause of the U.S. Constitution.
- Lamone v. Benisek
  In case in which the plaintiffs allege that a Maryland congressional district was gerrymandered to retaliate against them for their political views: (1) whether the various legal claims articulated by the three-judge district court are unmanageable; (2) whether the three-judge district court erred when, in granting plaintiffs’ motion for summary judgment, it resolved disputes of material fact as to multiple elements of plaintiffs’ claims, failed to view the evidence in the light most favorable to the non-moving party, and treated as “undisputed” evidence that is the subject of still-unresolved hearsay and other evidentiary objections; and (3) whether the three-judge district court abused its discretion in entering an injunction despite the plaintiffs’ years-long delay in seeking injunctive relief, rendering the remedy applicable to at most one election before the next decennial census necessitates another redistricting.
- Kisor v. Wilkie
  Whether the Supreme Court should overrule Auer v. Robbins and Bowles v. Seminole Rock & Sand Co., which direct courts to defer to an agency’s reasonable interpretation of its own ambiguous regulation.
- Rucho v. Common Cause
  (1) Whether plaintiffs have standing to press their partisan gerrymandering claims; (2) whether plaintiffs’ partisan gerrymandering claims are justiciable; and (3) whether North Carolina’s 2016 congressional map is, in fact, an unconstitutional partisan gerrymander.
- The American Legion v. American Humanist Association
  (1) Whether a 93-year-old memorial to the fallen of World War I is unconstitutional merely because it is shaped like a cross; (2) whether the constitutionality of a passive display incorporating religious symbolism should be assessed under the tests articulated in Lemon v. Kurtzman, Van Orden v. Perry, Town of Greece v. Galloway or some other test; and (3) whether, if the test from Lemon v. Kurtzman applies, the expenditure of funds for the routine upkeep and maintenance of a cross-shaped war memorial, without more, amounts to an excessive entanglement with religion in violation of the First Amendment.
- Gamble v. United States
  The dual-sovereignty doctrine – under which two offenses are not the “same offence” for double jeopardy purposes if prosecuted by separate sovereigns – is upheld.
see all this term’s cases »
Recent Decisions
- Gamble v. United States The dual-sovereignty doctrine – under which two offenses are not the “same offence” for double jeopardy purposes if prosecuted by separate sovereigns – is upheld.
- Manhattan Community Access Corp. v. Halleck Manhattan Community Access Corp., a private nonprofit corporation designated by New York City to operate the public access channels on the Manhattan cable system owned by Time Warner (now Charter), is not a state actor subject to the First Amendment.
- Virginia House of Delegates v. Bethune-Hill The House of Delegates lacks standing to appeal the invalidation of Virginia’s redistricting plan.
- Virginia Uranium, Inc. v. Warren The U.S. Court of Appeals for the 4th Circuit’s judgment that the Atomic Energy Act does not preempt Virginia’s prohibition on uranium mining in the commonwealth is affirmed.
- Parker Drilling Management Services, Ltd. v. Newton Under the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act, when federal law addresses the relevant issue, state law is not adopted as surrogate federal law on the Outer Continental Shelf.
- Quarles v. United States Michigan’s third-degree home-invasion statute substantially corresponds to or is narrower than generic burglary for purposes of qualifying for enhanced sentencing under the Armed Career Criminal Act.
- Return Mail Inc. v. United States Postal Service The federal government is not a “person” capable of petitioning the Patent Trial and Appeal Board to institute patent review proceedings under the Leahy-Smith America Invents Act.
see all this term’s cases »
Current Relists
- McGee v. McFadden (1) Whether the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 4th Circuit erred when it found no constitutional error when the state failed to disclose Brady evidence, a letter from a jailhouse snitch, until the post-trial hearing for a motion for a new trial; (2) whether the state and federal courts’ decisions were contrary to Giglio v. United States, United States v. Bagley, Brady v. Maryland and Napue v. Illinois when the state failed to disclose material impeachment evidence, a letter from a jailhouse snitch who testified that petitioner confessed to him; and (3) whether the state and federal courts erred in finding that trial counsel rendered effective assistance of counsel when he failed to interview Michael Jones and call him as a witness.
- Roman Catholic Archdiocese of San Juan, Puerto Rico v. Feliciano Whether the First Amendment empowers courts to override the chosen legal structure of a religious organization and declare all of its constituent parts a single legal entity subject to joint and several liability.
Recent Special Features
Statistical Snapshot

Cases argued 69

Cases decided 49

Summary reversals 5

Merits cases granted to date 74

see all »
Live Blog Archives
See all
Twitter Feed

Tweets by @SCOTUSblog

Merits Docket OT18 (June 17, 2019)
Merits Cases by Sitting
Majority Opinions by Author
Voting Breakdown Argued Cases
Majority Lineup 5-4 Decisions

Full Calendar Submit Event

Orders/Opinions
Arguments
Conferences

Events
Holidays
Multiple

Download our App in the Apple Store
Videos see all

Justice Thomas at the Supreme Court Historical Society

On June 3, Justice Clarence Thomas spoke with David Rubenstein for the Supreme Court Historical Society’s annual lecture at the Supreme Court.

Peabody Award
Awarded the Peabody Award for excellence in electronic media.
Sigma Delta Chi
Awarded the Sigma Delta Chi deadline reporting award for online coverage of the Affordable Care Act decision.
National Press Club Award
Awarded the National Press Club's Breaking News Award for coverage of the Affordable Care Act decision.
Silver Gavel Award
Awarded the Silver Gavel Award by the American Bar Association for fostering the American public’s understanding of the law and the legal system.
American Gavel Award
Awarded the American Gavel Award for Distinguished Reporting About the Judiciary to recognize the highest standards of reporting about courts and the justice system.
Webby Award
Awarded the Webby Award for excellence on the internet.

Cases argued	69
Cases decided	49
Summary reversals	5
Merits cases granted to date	74

3
Orders
Opinions

6
Conference

10
Orders
Opinions

13
Conference

17
Orders
Opinions

20
Conference
Opinions