Harold E. Staples, III v. United States

Decided May 23, 1994. Clarence Thomas delivered the opinion of the Court.

Docket 92-1441 · 511 U.S. 600 (1994) · Cited 1,491 times

Holding

To obtain a § 5861(d) conviction, the Government should have been required to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that Staples knew that his rifle had the characteristics that brought it within the statutory definition of a machinegun.

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.

“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.

• United States v. Balint · 258 U.S. 250 (1922)
• United States v. Freed · 401 U.S. 601 (1971)
• Liparota v. United States · 471 U.S. 419 (1985)
• Morissette v. United States · 342 U.S. 246 (1952)
• United States v. Dotterweich · 320 U.S. 277 (1943)
• United States v. United States Gypsum Co. · 438 U.S. 422 (1978)
• United States v. International Minerals & Chemical Corp. · 402 U.S. 558 (1971)
• United States v. Bailey · 444 U.S. 394 (1980)
• Ratzlaf v. United States · 510 U.S. 135 (1994)
• Connecticut National Bank v. Germain · 503 U.S. 249 (1992)
• Miller v. California · 413 U.S. 15 (1973)
• Cannon v. University of Chicago · 441 U.S. 677 (1979)
• United States v. Bass · 404 U.S. 336 (1971)
• Lorillard v. Pons · 434 U.S. 575 (1978)
• Smith v. United States · 508 U.S. 223 (1993)
• Chapman v. United States · 500 U.S. 453 (1991)
• Cheek v. United States · 498 U.S. 192 (1991)
• The United States v. Hudson and Goodwin · 11 U.S. 32 (1812)
• Crandon v. United States · 494 U.S. 152 (1990)
• Rodriguez v. United States · 480 U.S. 522 (1987)
• United States v. Fisher · 6 U.S. 358 (1805)
• United States v. Park · 421 U.S. 658 (1975)
• United States v. R. L. C. · 503 U.S. 291 (1992)
• Lawrence County v. Lead-Deadwood School District No. 40-1 · 469 U.S. 256 (1985)

Cited by

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

• Rehaif v. United States · 588 U.S. 225 (2019)
• Elonis v. United States · 575 U.S. 723 (2015)
• United States v. X-Citement Video, Inc. · 513 U.S. 64 (1994)
• McFadden v. United States · 576 U.S. 186 (2015)
• Luna Torres v. Lynch · 578 U.S. 452 (2016)
• Carter v. United States · 530 U.S. 255 (2000)
• Xiulu Ruan v. United States · 597 U.S. 450 (2022)
• United States v. Wells · 519 U.S. 482 (1997)
• Husky International Electronics, Inc. v. Ritz · 578 U.S. 355 (2016)
• Dean v. United States · 556 U.S. 568 (2009)
• Shular v. United States · 589 U.S. 154 (2020)
• Intel Corp. Investment Policy Comm. v. Sulyma · 589 U.S. 178 (2020)
• Bryan v. United States · 524 U.S. 184 (1998)
• Babbitt v. Sweet Home Chapter, Communities for Great Ore. · 515 U.S. 687 (1995)
• United States v. Alvarez · 567 U.S. 709 (2012)
• Brogan v. United States · 522 U.S. 398 (1998)
• Garland v. Cargill · 602 U.S. 406 (2024)
• Almendarez-Torres v. United States · 523 U.S. 224 (1998)
• Old Chief v. United States · 519 U.S. 172 (1997)
• United States v. Gaudin · 515 U.S. 506 (1995)
• Jones v. United States · 526 U.S. 227 (1999)
• National Federation of Independent Business v. Sebelius · 567 U.S. 519 (2012)
• Muscarello v. United States · 524 U.S. 125 (1998)
• Flores-Figueroa v. United States · 556 U.S. 646 (2009)
• United States v. LaBonte · 520 U.S. 751 (1997)
• Erlinger v. United States · 602 U.S. 821 (2024)
• Castillo v. United States · 530 U.S. 120 (2000)
• Federal Communications Commission v. Nextwave Personal Communications Inc. · 537 U.S. 293 (2003)
• Freeman v. Quicken Loans, Inc. · 566 U.S. 624 (2012)
• Perttu v. Richards · 605 U.S. 460 (2025)

Official text

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

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Source: Supreme Court of the United States, slip opinions (1994). 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).