Robert Johnson, Jr. v. United States

Decided April 4, 2005. David Hackett Souter delivered the opinion of the Court.

Docket 03-9685 · 544 U.S. 295 (2005) · Cited 427 times

Holding

In a case in which a prisoner collaterally attacks his federal sentence on the ground that a state conviction used to enhance that sentence has since been vacated, § 2255, ¶ 6(4)’s 1-year limitation period begins to run when the petitioner receives notice of the order vacating the prior conviction, provided that he has sought it with due diligence in state court after entry of judgment in the federal case in which the sentence was enhanced.

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 5–4.

“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.

• Daniels v. United States · 532 U.S. 374 (2001)
• Custis v. United States · 511 U.S. 485 (1994)
• Gideon v. Wainwright · 372 U.S. 335 (1963)
• Duncan v. Walker · 533 U.S. 167 (2001)
• Brady v. Maryland · 373 U.S. 83 (1963)
• Apprendi v. New Jersey · 530 U.S. 466 (2000)
• Houston v. Lack · 487 U.S. 266 (1988)
• Lewis v. United States · 445 U.S. 55 (1980)
• Woodford v. Garceau · 538 U.S. 202 (2003)
• Bay Area Laundry & Dry Cleaning Pension Trust Fund v. Ferbar Corp. of California, Inc. · 522 U.S. 192 (1997)

Cited by

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

• Panetti v. Quarterman · 551 U.S. 930 (2007)
• Walker v. Martin · 562 U.S. 307 (2011)
• Jones v. Hendrix · 599 U.S. 465 (2023)
• Graham County Soil & Water Conservation District v. United States Ex Rel. Wilson · 545 U.S. 409 (2005)
• Brown v. United States · 602 U.S. 101 (2024)

Official text

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

Explore from here

David Hackett Souter’s profile · All Supreme Court opinions · The Supreme Court

Source: Supreme Court of the United States, slip opinions (2005). 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).