United States v. Jerry E. Wells and Kenneth R. Steele

Decided February 26, 1997. David Hackett Souter delivered the opinion of the Court.

Docket 95-1228 · 519 U.S. 482 (1997) · Cited 565 times

We don’t yet publish a summary of this opinion — read the official text below for the Court’s holding and reasoning.

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.

• Kay v. United States · 303 U.S. 1 (1938)
• Kungys v. United States · 485 U.S. 759 (1988)
• United States v. Gaudin · 515 U.S. 506 (1995)
• Fedorenko v. United States · 449 U.S. 490 (1981)
• Williams v. United States · 458 U.S. 279 (1982)
• City of Springfield v. Kibbe · 480 U.S. 257 (1987)
• Staples v. United States · 511 U.S. 600 (1994)
• United States v. Shabani · 513 U.S. 10 (1994)
• Community for Creative Non-Violence v. Reid · 490 U.S. 730 (1989)
• United States v. X-Citement Video, Inc. · 513 U.S. 64 (1994)
• United States v. Williams · 504 U.S. 36 (1992)
• Immigration & Naturalization Service v. Cardoza-Fonseca · 480 U.S. 421 (1987)
• Bailey v. United States · 516 U.S. 137 (1995)
• Consumer Product Safety Commission v. GTE Sylvania, Inc. · 447 U.S. 102 (1980)
• United States v. American Trucking Associations · 310 U.S. 534 (1940)
• Fogerty v. Fantasy, Inc. · 510 U.S. 517 (1994)
• Keyishian v. Board of Regents of Univ. of State of NY · 385 U.S. 589 (1967)
• Middlesex County Sewerage Authority v. National Sea Clammers Assn. · 453 U.S. 1 (1981)
• Smith v. United States · 508 U.S. 223 (1993)
• Nationwide Mutual Insurance v. Darden · 503 U.S. 318 (1992)
• Gustafson v. Alloyd Co. · 513 U.S. 561 (1995)
• Baggett v. Bullitt · 377 U.S. 360 (1964)
• Gade v. National Solid Wastes Management Assn. · 505 U.S. 88 (1992)
• Reno v. Koray · 515 U.S. 50 (1995)
• State Farm Fire & Casualty Co. v. Tashire · 386 U.S. 523 (1967)
• Ladner v. United States · 358 U.S. 169 (1958)
• Norfolk & Western Railway Co. v. American Train Dispatchers' Ass'n · 499 U.S. 117 (1991)
• Muniz v. Hoffman · 422 U.S. 454 (1975)
• Girouard v. United States · 328 U.S. 61 (1946)
• North Star Steel Co. v. Thomas · 515 U.S. 29 (1995)

Cited by

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

• Carter v. United States · 530 U.S. 255 (2000)
• Neder v. United States · 527 U.S. 1 (1999)
• United States v. Alvarez · 567 U.S. 709 (2012)
• District of Columbia v. Heller · 554 U.S. 570 (2008)
• United States v. Davis · 588 U.S. 445 (2019)
• Bostock v. Clayton County · 590 U.S. 644 (2020)
• Musacchio v. United States · 577 U.S. 237 (2016)
• Mississippi Ex Rel. Hood v. AU Optronics Corp. · 571 U.S. 161 (2014)
• Shular v. United States · 589 U.S. 154 (2020)
• Thompson v. United States · 604 U.S. 408 (2025)
• Almendarez-Torres v. United States · 523 U.S. 224 (1998)
• Woodford v. Ngo · 548 U.S. 81 (2006)
• Porter v. Nussle · 534 U.S. 516 (2002)
• Johnson v. United States · 520 U.S. 461 (1997)
• United States v. Lanier · 520 U.S. 259 (1997)
• McDonald v. City of Chicago · 561 U.S. 742 (2010)
• Clay v. United States · 537 U.S. 522 (2003)
• Richardson v. United States · 526 U.S. 813 (1999)
• Muscarello v. United States · 524 U.S. 125 (1998)
• Holloway v. United States · 526 U.S. 1 (1999)
• Barnhart v. Peabody Coal Co. · 537 U.S. 149 (2003)
• Bates v. United States · 522 U.S. 23 (1997)
• Pasquantino v. United States · 544 U.S. 349 (2005)
• Whitfield v. United States · 543 U.S. 209 (2005)

Official text

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

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Source: the U.S. Reports via govinfo.gov; authoring Justice and vote lineup from the Supreme Court Database (Washington University). 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).