Gerald R. Caron v. United States (524 U.S. 308)
U.S. Supreme Court · decided June 22, 1998 · Supreme Court Database (Spaeth)
- Citation
- 524 U.S. 308 · 118 S. Ct. 2007
- Decided
- June 22, 1998
- Term
- October Term 1997
- Vote
- 6–3
- Majority author
- Justice Kennedy
- Issue area
- Criminal Procedure
- Disposition
- Affirmed
- Outcome
- Petitioning party lost
- Ideological direction
- Conservative
Opinion excerpt
Justice Kennedy delivered the opinion of the Court. Under federal law, a person convicted of a crime punishable by more than one year in prison may not possess any firearm. 18 U. S. C. § 922(g)(1). If he has three violent felony convictions and violates the statute, he must receive an enhanced sentence. § 924(e). A previous conviction is a predicate for neither the substantive offense nor the sentence enhancement if the offender has had his civil rights restored, “unless such... restoration of civil rights expressly provides that the person may not... possess ... firearms.” §921(a)(20). This is the so-called “unless clause” we now must interpret. As the ellipses suggest, the statute is more complex, but the phrase as quoted presents the issue for our decision. The parties, reflecting a similar division among various Courts of Appeals, disagree over the interpretation of the unless clause in the following circumstance. What if the State restoring the offender’s rights forbids possession of some firearms, say pistols, but not others, say rifles? In one sense, he “may not. .. possess .. . firearms” under the unless clause because the ban on specified weapons is a ban on “firearms.” In another sense, he can possess firearms under the unless clause because the state ban is not absolute. Compare, e.g., United States v. Estrella, 104 F. 3d 3, 8 (CA1) (adopting former reading), cert.…
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