Taylor v. United States

Decided May 29, 1990. Harry Andrew Blackmun delivered the opinion of the Court.

Docket 88-7194 · 495 U.S. 575 (1990) · Cited 5,461 times

Holding

An offense constitutes "burglary" under 924(e) if, regardless of its exact definition or label, it has the basic elements of a "generic" burglary i.e., an unlawful or unprivileged entry into, or remaining in, a building or other structure, with intent to commit a crime or if the charging paper and jury instructions actually required the jury to find all the elements of generic burglary in order to convict the defendant.

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 9–0.

“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. Nardello · 393 U.S. 286 (1969)
• Perrin v. United States · 444 U.S. 37 (1979)
• United States v. Turley · 352 U.S. 407 (1957)
• Immigration & Naturalization Service v. Cardoza-Fonseca · 480 U.S. 421 (1987)
• Morissette v. United States · 342 U.S. 246 (1952)
• Russello v. United States · 464 U.S. 16 (1983)
• Bifulco v. United States · 447 U.S. 381 (1980)
• Simpson v. United States · 435 U.S. 6 (1978)
• Bell v. United States · 462 U.S. 356 (1983)
• Dickerson v. New Banner Institute, Inc. · 460 U.S. 103 (1983)

Cited by

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

• Shepard v. United States · 544 U.S. 13 (2005)
• Descamps v. United States · 570 U.S. 254 (2013)
• James v. United States · 550 U.S. 192 (2007)
• Mathis v. United States · 579 U.S. 500 (2016)
• Quarles v. United States · 587 U.S. 645 (2019)
• United States v. Stitt · 586 U.S. 27 (2018)
• Gonzales v. Duenas-Alvarez · 549 U.S. 183 (2007)
• United States v. Davis · 588 U.S. 445 (2019)
• Johnson v. United States · 576 U.S. 591 (2015)
• Moncrieffe v. Holder · 569 U.S. 184 (2013)
• Pereida v. Wilkinson · 592 U.S. 224 (2021)
• Pugin v. Garland · 599 U.S. 600 (2023)
• Begay v. United States · 553 U.S. 137 (2008)
• Esquivel-Quintana v. Sessions · 581 U.S. 385 (2017)
• Nijhawan v. Holder · 557 U.S. 29 (2009)
• Shular v. United States · 589 U.S. 154 (2020)
• Chambers v. United States · 555 U.S. 122 (2009)
• Sessions v. Dimaya · 584 U.S. 148 (2018)
• Stokeling v. United States · 586 U.S. 73 (2019)
• United States v. Rodriquez · 553 U.S. 377 (2008)
• Brown v. United States · 602 U.S. 101 (2024)
• Moskal v. United States · 498 U.S. 103 (1990)
• United States v. Castleman · 572 U.S. 157 (2014)
• Scheidler v. National Organization for Women, Inc. · 537 U.S. 393 (2003)
• United States v. Hayes · 555 U.S. 415 (2009)
• United States v. Taylor · 596 U.S. 845 (2022)
• Lockhart v. United States · 577 U.S. 347 (2016)
• McNeill v. United States · 563 U.S. 816 (2011)
• Borden v. United States · 593 U.S. 420 (2021)
• Evans v. United States · 504 U.S. 255 (1992)

Official text

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

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Source: Supreme Court of the United States, slip opinions (1990). 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).