Billy Joe Reynolds, Petitioner v. United States
Decided January 23, 2012. Stephen Gerald Breyer delivered the opinion of the Court.
Docket 10-6549 · 565 U.S. 432 (2012) · Cited 171 times
Holding
The Act does not require pre-Act offenders to register before the Attorney General validly specifies that the Act’s registration provisions apply to them.
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 7–2.
Majority · 7
- Stephen Gerald Breyer · delivered the opinion of the Court
- Anthony McLeod Kennedy
- Clarence Thomas
- Elena Kagan
- John Glover Roberts Jr.
- Samuel A. Alito Jr.
- Sonia Sotomayor
Dissenting · 2
- Antonin Scalia · filed a dissenting opinion
- Ruth Bader Ginsburg
“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.
- Gozlon-Peretz v. United States · 498 U.S. 395 (1991)
- Carr v. United States · 560 U.S. 438 (2010)
- United States v. Lanier · 520 U.S. 259 (1997)
- Whitman v. American Trucking Assns., Inc. · 531 U.S. 457 (2001)
- A. L. A. Schechter Poultry Corp. v. United States · 295 U.S. 495 (1935)
- United States v. Detroit Timber & Lumber Co. · 200 U.S. 321 (1906)
- Gomez v. United States · 490 U.S. 858 (1989)
- Loving v. United States · 517 U.S. 748 (1996)
- Bloate v. United States · 559 U.S. 196 (2010)
Cited by
Later Supreme Court opinions in our collection that cite this case.
- Gundy v. United States · 588 U.S. 128 (2019)
- United States v. Kebodeaux · 570 U.S. 387 (2013)
Official text
Read the official opinion (U.S. Reports, govinfo.gov)
Explore from here
Stephen Gerald Breyer’s profile · All Supreme Court opinions · The Supreme Court
Source: Supreme Court of the United States, slip opinions (2012). 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).