United States v. Bishop

Decided May 29, 1973. Harry Andrew Blackmun delivered the opinion of the Court.

Docket 71-1698 · 412 U.S. 346 (1973) · Cited 417 times

Holding

The word 'willfully' has the same meaning in 7206(1) and 7207, connoting the voluntary, intentional violation of a known legal duty, and the distinction between the statutes is found in the additional misconduct that is essential to the violation of the felony provision; hence, the District Court properly refused the requested lesser-included-offense instruction based on respondent's erroneous contention that the word 'willfully' in the misdemeanor statute implied less scienter than the same word in the felony statute.

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 8–1.

“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.

• Spies v. United States · 317 U.S. 492 (1943)
• Sansone v. United States · 380 U.S. 343 (1965)
• Berra v. United States · 351 U.S. 131 (1956)
• United States v. Murdock · 290 U.S. 389 (1934)
• James v. United States · 366 U.S. 213 (1961)
• McCarthy v. United States · 394 U.S. 459 (1969)
• Lambert v. California · 355 U.S. 225 (1957)

Cited by

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

• Cheek v. United States · 498 U.S. 192 (1991)
• United States v. Pomponio · 429 U.S. 10 (1976)
• Rehaif v. United States · 588 U.S. 225 (2019)
• McLaughlin v. Richland Shoe Co. · 486 U.S. 128 (1988)
• Ratzlaf v. United States · 510 U.S. 135 (1994)
• Bryan v. United States · 524 U.S. 184 (1998)
• Garner v. United States · 424 U.S. 648 (1976)
• International Primate Protection League v. Administrators of Tulane Educational Fund · 500 U.S. 72 (1991)

Official text

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

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Source: Supreme Court of the United States, slip opinions (1973). 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).