Burrage v. United States

Decided January 27, 2014. Antonin Scalia delivered the opinion of the Court.

Docket 12-7515 · 571 U.S. 204 (2014) · Cited 689 times

Holding

At least where use of the drug distributed by the defendant is not an independently suffcient cause of the victim's death or serious bodily injury, a defendant cannot be liable for penalty enhancement under § 841(b)(1)(C) unless such use is a but-for cause of the death or injury.

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 9–0.

“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.

• Gross v. FBL Financial Services, Inc. · 557 U.S. 167 (2009)
• Apprendi v. New Jersey · 530 U.S. 466 (2000)
• Price Waterhouse v. Hopkins · 490 U.S. 228 (1989)
• Holmes v. Securities Investor Protection Corporation · 503 U.S. 258 (1992)
• United States v. Detroit Timber & Lumber Co. · 200 U.S. 321 (1906)
• Safeco Insurance Co. of America v. Burr · 551 U.S. 47 (2007)
• Bridge v. Phoenix Bond & Indemnity Co. · 553 U.S. 639 (2008)
• Moskal v. United States · 498 U.S. 103 (1990)
• Badaracco v. Commissioner · 464 U.S. 386 (1984)
• Commissioner v. Lundy · 516 U.S. 235 (1996)
• Asgrow Seed Co. v. Winterboer · 513 U.S. 179 (1995)
• DePierre v. United States · 564 U.S. 70 (2011)

Cited by

Later Supreme Court opinions in our collection that cite this case.

• Bostock v. Clayton County · 590 U.S. 644 (2020)
• EPA v. Calumet Shreveport Refining, L.L.C. · 605 U.S. 627 (2025)
• Pereira v. Sessions · 585 U.S. 198 (2018)
• Maslenjak v. United States · 582 U.S. 335 (2017)
• Delligatti v. United States · 604 U.S. 423 (2025)
• Sandifer v. United States Steel Corp. · 571 U.S. 220 (2014)
• Husted v. A. Philip Randolph Institute · 584 U.S. 756 (2018)

Official text

Read the official opinion (U.S. Reports, govinfo.gov)

Explore from here

Antonin Scalia’s profile · All Supreme Court opinions · The Supreme Court

Source: Supreme Court of the United States, slip opinions (2014). 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).