Keith Lavon Burgess v. United States (553 U.S. 124)
U.S. Supreme Court · decided April 16, 2008 · Supreme Court Database (Spaeth)
- Citation
- 553 U.S. 124 · 128 S. Ct. 1572
- Decided
- April 16, 2008
- Term
- October Term 2007
- Vote
- 9–0
- Majority author
- Justice Ginsburg
- Issue area
- Criminal Procedure
- Disposition
- Affirmed
- Outcome
- Petitioning party lost
- Ideological direction
- Conservative
Opinion excerpt
Justice Ginsburg delivered the opinion of the Court. For certain federal drug offenses, the Controlled Substances Act mandates a minimum sentence of imprisonment for ten years. 21 U. S. C. § 841(b)(1)(A). That minimum doubles to 20 years for defendants previously convicted of a “felony drug offense.” Ibid. The question in this case is whether a state drug offense classified as a misdemeanor, but punishable by more than one year’s imprisonment, is a “felony drug offense” as that term is used in § 841(b)(1)(A). Two statutory definitions figure in our decision. Section 802(13) defines the unadorned term “felony” to mean any “offense classified by applicable Federal or State law as a felony.” Section 802(44) defines the compound term “felony drug offense” to mean an offense involving specified drugs that is “punishable by imprisonment for more than one year under any law of the United States or of a State or foreign country.” The term “felony drug offense” contained in § 841(b)(l)(A)’s provision for a 20-year minimum sentence, we hold, is defined exclusively by § 802(44) and does not incorporate § 802(13)’s definition of “felony.” A state drug offense punishable by more than one year therefore qualifies as a “felony drug offense,” even if state law classifies the offense as a misdemeanor. I Petitioner Keith Lavon Burgess pleaded guilty in the United States District Court for the…
Excerpt of a 19,961-character opinion. The full text and citation network load in the interactive viewer above.