Esquivel-Quintana v. Sessions
Decided May 30, 2017. Clarence Thomas delivered the opinion of the Court.
Docket 16-54 · 581 U.S. 385 (2017) · Cited 237 times
Holding
In the context of statutory rape offenses that criminalize sexual intercourse based solely on the ages of the participants, the generic federal definition of “sexual abuse of a minor” requires the age of the victim to be less than 16.
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 8–0.
Majority · 8
- Clarence Thomas · delivered the opinion of the Court
- Anthony McLeod Kennedy
- Elena Kagan
- John Glover Roberts Jr.
- Ruth Bader Ginsburg
- Samuel A. Alito Jr.
- Sonia Sotomayor
- Stephen Gerald Breyer
“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.
- Gonzales v. Duenas-Alvarez · 549 U.S. 183 (2007)
- Taylor v. United States · 495 U.S. 575 (1990)
- Chevron U. S. A. Inc. v. Natural Resources Defense Council, Inc. · 467 U.S. 837 (1984)
- Moncrieffe v. Holder · 569 U.S. 184 (2013)
- Leocal v. Ashcroft · 543 U.S. 1 (2004)
- Johnson v. United States · 559 U.S. 133 (2010)
- Perrin v. United States · 444 U.S. 37 (1979)
- Lopez v. Gonzales · 549 U.S. 47 (2006)
- Carachuri-Rosendo v. Holder · 560 U.S. 563 (2010)
- Powerex Corp. v. Reliant Energy Services, Inc. · 551 U.S. 224 (2007)
- Kawashima v. Holder · 565 U.S. 478 (2012)
- Mellouli v. Lynch · 575 U.S. 798 (2015)
Cited by
Later Supreme Court opinions in our collection that cite this case.
- Pugin v. Garland · 599 U.S. 600 (2023)
- Shular v. United States · 589 U.S. 154 (2020)
Explore from here
Clarence Thomas’s profile · All Supreme Court opinions · The Supreme Court
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).