Shular v. United States
U.S. Supreme Court · decided February 26, 2020 · Supreme Court Database (Spaeth)
- Decided
- February 26, 2020
- Term
- October Term 2019
- Vote
- 9–0
- Majority author
- Justice Ginsburg
- Issue area
- Criminal Procedure
- Disposition
- Affirmed
- Outcome
- Petitioning party lost
- Ideological direction
- Conservative
Opinion excerpt
Syllabus SHULAR v. UNITED STATES certiorari to the united states court of appeals for the eleventh circuit No. 18–6662. Argued January 21, 2020—Decided February 26, 2020 The Armed Career Criminal Act (ACCA) mandates a 15-year minimum sentence for a defendant convicted of being a felon in possession of a frearm who has at least three convictions for “serious drug offense[s].” 18 U. S. C. § 924(e)(1). A state offense ranks as a “serious drug offense” only if it “involv[es] manufacturing, distributing, or possessing with intent to manufacture or distribute, a controlled substance.” § 924(e)(2)(A)(ii). To determine whether an offender's prior convictions qualify for ACCA enhancement, this Court has used a “categorical approach,” look- ing “only to the statutory defnitions of the prior offenses.” Taylor v. United States, 495 U. S. 575, 600. Under some statutes, a court employ- ing a categorical approach must come up with a “generic” version of a crime—that is, the elements of the offense as commonly understood. The court then determines whether the elements of the offense of con- viction match those of the generic crime. Other statutes, which ask the court to determine whether the conviction meets some other criterion, require no such generic-offense analysis. Shular pleaded guilty to being a felon in possession of a frearm and received a 15-year sentence, the mandatory minimum…
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