Thomas Carr v. United States

Decided June 1, 2010. Sonia Sotomayor delivered the opinion of the Court.

Docket 08-1301 · 560 U.S. 438 (2010) · Cited 274 times

Holding

Section 2250 does not apply to sex offenders whose interstate travel occurred before SORNA’s effective date.

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 6–3.

“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.

• Scarborough v. United States · 431 U.S. 563 (1977)
• Gwaltney of Smithfield, Ltd. v. Chesapeake Bay Foundation, Inc. · 484 U.S. 49 (1987)
• Smith v. Doe · 538 U.S. 84 (2003)
• United States v. Wilson · 503 U.S. 329 (1992)
• Connecticut National Bank v. Germain · 503 U.S. 249 (1992)
• Mertens v. Hewitt Associates · 508 U.S. 248 (1993)
• United States v. Detroit Timber & Lumber Co. · 200 U.S. 321 (1906)
• United States National Bank v. Independent Insurance Agents of America, Inc. · 508 U.S. 439 (1993)
• Johnson v. United States · 529 U.S. 694 (2000)
• Arlington Central School District Board of Education v. Murphy · 548 U.S. 291 (2006)
• Barrett v. United States · 423 U.S. 212 (1976)

Cited by

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

• Mont v. United States · 587 U.S. 514 (2019)
• United States v. Kebodeaux · 570 U.S. 387 (2013)
• Jam v. International Finance Corp. · 586 U.S. 199 (2019)
• Reynolds v. United States · 565 U.S. 432 (2012)
• Brown v. United States · 602 U.S. 101 (2024)
• Hewitt v. United States · 606 U.S. 419 (2025)
• Stanley v. City of Sanford · 606 U.S. 46 (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 (2010). 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).