Sessions v. Dimaya

Decided April 17, 2018. Elena Kagan delivered the opinion of the Court.

Docket 15-1498 · 584 U.S. 148 (2018) · Cited 942 times

Holding

The Ninth Circuit’s judgment—that 18 U. S. C. §16(b), which defines violent felony for purposes of the Immigration and Nationality Act’s removal provisions, is unconstitutionally vague—is affirmed.

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. The lineup is the syllabus’s disposition of who wrote and joined each opinion. Source: the opinion’s syllabus (supremecourt.gov).

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.

• Leocal v. Ashcroft · 543 U.S. 1 (2004)
• James v. United States · 550 U.S. 192 (2007)
• Jordan v. De George · 341 U.S. 223 (1951)
• Johnson v. United States · 559 U.S. 133 (2010)
• Begay v. United States · 553 U.S. 137 (2008)
• Taylor v. United States · 495 U.S. 575 (1990)
• Nijhawan v. Holder · 557 U.S. 29 (2009)
• Den Ex Dem. Murray v. Hoboken Land & Improvement Co. · 59 U.S. 272 (1856)
• Fong Yue Ting v. United States · 149 U.S. 698 (1893)
• Chambers v. United States · 555 U.S. 122 (2009)
• Sykes v. United States · 564 U.S. 1 (2011)
• Kolender v. Lawson · 461 U.S. 352 (1983)
• Shepard v. United States · 544 U.S. 13 (2005)
• Connally v. General Construction Co. · 269 U.S. 385 (1926)
• Descamps v. United States · 570 U.S. 254 (2013)
• Grayned v. City of Rockford · 408 U.S. 104 (1972)
• Hoffman Estates v. Flipside, Hoffman Estates, Inc. · 455 U.S. 489 (1982)
• Demore v. Kim · 538 U.S. 510 (2003)
• Padilla v. Kentucky · 559 U.S. 356 (2010)
• Smith v. Goguen · 415 U.S. 566 (1974)
• Pacific Mutual Life Insurance v. Haslip · 499 U.S. 1 (1991)
• City of Chicago v. Morales · 527 U.S. 41 (1999)
• Maynard v. Cartwright · 486 U.S. 356 (1988)
• Moncrieffe v. Holder · 569 U.S. 184 (2013)
• Harisiades v. Shaughnessy · 342 U.S. 580 (1952)
• Fong Haw Tan v. Phelan · 333 U.S. 6 (1948)
• United States v. Hayes · 555 U.S. 415 (2009)
• Slack v. McDaniel · 529 U.S. 473 (2000)
• Apprendi v. New Jersey · 530 U.S. 466 (2000)
• Almendarez-Torres v. United States · 523 U.S. 224 (1998)

Cited by

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

• United States v. Davis · 588 U.S. 445 (2019)
• Quarles v. United States · 587 U.S. 645 (2019)
• Gundy v. United States · 588 U.S. 128 (2019)
• Stokeling v. United States · 586 U.S. 73 (2019)
• Moody v. NetChoice, LLC · 603 U.S. 707 (2024)
• Chiaverini v. City of Napoleon · 602 U.S. 556 (2024)
• SEC v. Jarkesy · 603 U.S. 109 (2024)

Official text

Read the official opinion (PDF, supremecourt.gov)

Explore from here

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

Source: Supreme Court of the United States, slip opinions (2018). Citation count from the Free Law Project’s CourtListener bulk data. Data last verified 2026-08-15. Informational only; verify against the primary source before relying. Not a consumer report (FCRA).