United States v. Thomas’s Empirical Analysis

Citation profile

4 federal appellate · 1 district ·

Most-quoted passages

The sentences later courts lift from this opinion, ranked by how many decisions quote each — the parts of the opinion doing the work. These counts are smaller than the citation total above because most of the 10 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.

1. “the Supreme Court in Watson plainly interpreted the term “use” in such a way as to “narrow [its] scope” and, in doing so, “place[d] particular conduct ... beyond the [government’s] power to punish” under § 924(c)(1)(A). Schriro, 542 U.S. at 351-52 , 124 S.Ct. 2519 . Thus, the rule announced by the Watson Court effectively “decriminalize[d],” for purposes of the “use” prong of § 924(c), “a class of conduct.” Saffle, 494 U.S. at 495 , 110 S.Ct. 1257 . A defendant may not be convicted of using a firearm in furtherance of a drug trafficking offense under § 924(c) if he merely receives the gun in exchange for drugs. See Watson, 552 U.S. at 83 , 128 S.Ct. 579 . And, because this conduct is beyond the scope of § 924(c)(1)(A), a defendant convicted under such facts would “stand[ ] convicted of an act that the law does not make criminal” and serve “a punishment that the law cannot impose upon him.” Schriro, 542 U.S. at 352 , 124 S.Ct. 2519 (internal quotation marks omitted). Accordingly, we hold that the right announced in Watson is a new substantive right which must be applied retroactively to cases on collateral review.”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage · from the dissent
   e.g. United States v. Powell