Luna Torres v. Lynch

Decided May 19, 2016. Elena Kagan delivered the opinion of the Court.

Docket 14-1096 · 578 U.S. 452 (2016) · Cited 163 times

Holding

A state offense counts as a § 1101(a)(43) “aggravated felony” when it has every element of a listed federal crime except one requiring a connection to interstate or foreign commerce.

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 5–3.

“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.

• Lewis v. United States · 523 U.S. 155 (1998)
• Carachuri-Rosendo v. Holder · 560 U.S. 563 (2010)
• Staples v. United States · 511 U.S. 600 (1994)
• Nijhawan v. Holder · 557 U.S. 29 (2009)
• Scheidler v. National Organization for Women, Inc. · 547 U.S. 9 (2006)
• Brecht v. Abrahamson · 507 U.S. 619 (1993)
• Ring v. Arizona · 536 U.S. 584 (2002)
• United States v. Lopez · 514 U.S. 549 (1995)
• Mistretta v. United States · 488 U.S. 361 (1989)
• Leocal v. Ashcroft · 543 U.S. 1 (2004)
• United States v. X-Citement Video, Inc. · 513 U.S. 64 (1994)
• Gonzales v. Duenas-Alvarez · 549 U.S. 183 (2007)
• United States v. Feola · 420 U.S. 671 (1975)
• United States v. Butler · 297 U.S. 1 (1936)
• United States v. Freed · 401 U.S. 601 (1971)
• United States v. Balint · 258 U.S. 250 (1922)
• Lopez v. Gonzales · 549 U.S. 47 (2006)
• Scarborough v. United States · 431 U.S. 563 (1977)
• Jones v. United States · 529 U.S. 848 (2000)
• Judulang v. Holder · 565 U.S. 42 (2011)
• Compucredit Corp. v. Greenwood · 565 U.S. 95 (2012)
• Graham County Soil & Water Conservation District v. United States Ex Rel. Wilson · 545 U.S. 409 (2005)
• Florida Department of Revenue v. Piccadilly Cafeterias, Inc. · 554 U.S. 33 (2008)
• United States v. Yermian · 468 U.S. 63 (1984)
• Kawashima v. Holder · 565 U.S. 478 (2012)
• Cohens v. Virginia · 19 U.S. 264 (1821)
• Moncrieffe v. Holder · 569 U.S. 184 (2013)
• Elonis v. United States · 575 U.S. 723 (2015)
• Jones v. United States · 529 U.S. 848 (2000)

Cited by

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

• Rehaif v. United States · 588 U.S. 225 (2019)
• Nielsen v. Preap · 586 U.S. 392 (2019)
• Esteras v. United States · 606 U.S. 185 (2025)

Official text

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

Explore from here

Elena Kagan’s profile · All Supreme Court opinions · The Supreme Court

Source: Supreme Court of the United States, slip opinions (2016). 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).