Ruan v. United States
U.S. Supreme Court · decided June 27, 2022 · Supreme Court Database (Spaeth)
- Decided
- June 27, 2022
- Term
- October Term 2021
- Vote
- 9–0
- Majority author
- Justice Breyer
- Issue area
- Criminal Procedure
- Disposition
- Vacated and remanded
- Outcome
- Petitioning party won
- Ideological direction
- Liberal
Opinion excerpt
PRELIMINARY PRINT Volume 597 U. S. Part 2 Pages 450–480 OFFICIAL REPORTS OF THE SUPREME COURT June 27, 2022 Page Proof Pending Publication REBECCA A. WOMELDORF reporter of decisions NOTICE: This preliminary print is subject to formal revision before the bound volume is published. Users are requested to notify the Reporter of Decisions, Supreme Court of the United States, Washington, D.C. 20543, pio@supremecourt.gov, of any typographical or other formal errors. Syllabus XIULU RUAN v. UNITED STATES certiorari to the united states court of appeals for the eleventh circuit No. 20–1410. Argued March 1, 2022—Decided June 27, 2022* Petitioners Xiulu Ruan and Shakeel Kahn are medical doctors licensed to prescribe controlled substances. Each was tried for violating 21 U. S. C. § 841, which makes it a federal crime, “[e]xcept as authorized[,] . . . for any person knowingly or intentionally . . . to manufacture, dis- tribute, or dispense . . . a controlled substance.” A federal regulation authorizes registered doctors to dispense controlled substances via pre- scription, but only if the prescription is “issued for a legitimate medical purpose by an individual practitioner acting in the usual course of his professional practice.” 21 CFR § 1306.04(a). At issue in Ruan's and Kahn's trials was the mens rea required to convict under § 841 for dis- tributing controlled substances not “as…
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