Beckles v. United States

Decided March 6, 2017. Clarence Thomas delivered the opinion of the Court.

Docket 15-8544 · 580 U.S. 256 (2017) · Cited 4 times

Holding

The Federal Sentencing Guidelines, including §4B1.2(a)’s residual clause, are not subject to vagueness challenges under the Due Process Clause.

The Court’s statement of the holding, from the opinion’s syllabus. The syllabus is prepared by the Reporter of Decisions and is not part of the opinion of the Court — read the official opinion for authority.

How the Justices voted

Decided 7–0.

“Concurring” means agreeing with the outcome; any split shown is the Court’s judgment, not each Justice’s reasoning. Source: the Supreme Court Database (Spaeth et al.), Washington University.

Precedents cited

Supreme Court decisions this opinion relies on, ordered by how often it cites each. Cases in our collection link through; others are named.

• Mistretta v. United States · 488 U.S. 361 (1989)
• United States v. Booker · 543 U.S. 220 (2005)
• United States v. Batchelder · 442 U.S. 114 (1979)
• Apprendi v. New Jersey · 530 U.S. 466 (2000)
• Gall v. United States · 552 U.S. 38 (2007)
• Grayned v. City of Rockford · 408 U.S. 104 (1972)
• Kolender v. Lawson · 461 U.S. 352 (1983)
• Williams v. New York · 337 U.S. 241 (1949)
• Giaccio v. Pennsylvania · 382 U.S. 399 (1966)
• Rita v. United States · 551 U.S. 338 (2007)
• Koon v. United States · 518 U.S. 81 (1996)
• Stinson v. United States · 508 U.S. 36 (1993)
• Irizarry v. United States · 553 U.S. 708 (2008)
• Espinosa v. Florida · 505 U.S. 1079 (1992)
• United States v. Evans · 333 U.S. 483 (1948)
• Hoffman Estates v. Flipside, Hoffman Estates, Inc. · 455 U.S. 489 (1982)
• Connally v. General Construction Co. · 269 U.S. 385 (1926)
• Red Lion Broadcasting Co. v. Federal Communications Commission · 395 U.S. 367 (1969)
• United States v. Williams · 553 U.S. 285 (2008)
• Townsend v. Burke · 334 U.S. 736 (1948)
• Maynard v. Cartwright · 486 U.S. 356 (1988)
• United States v. Detroit Timber & Lumber Co. · 200 U.S. 321 (1906)
• Coates v. City of Cincinnati · 402 U.S. 611 (1971)
• Federal Communications Commission v. Fox Television Stations, Inc. · 567 U.S. 239 (2012)
• Pepper v. United States · 562 U.S. 476 (2011)
• Nash v. United States · 229 U.S. 373 (1913)
• Holder v. Humanitarian Law Project · 561 U.S. 1 (2010)
• Chambers v. United States · 555 U.S. 122 (2009)
• Bell v. Cone · 543 U.S. 447 (2005)

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Source: Supreme Court of the United States, slip opinions (2017). Citation count from the Free Law Project’s CourtListener bulk data. Data last verified 2026-07-03. Informational only; verify against the primary source before relying. Not a consumer report (FCRA).