United States v. Richard Wilson

Decided March 24, 1992. Clarence Thomas delivered the opinion of the Court.

Docket 90-1745 · 503 U.S. 329 (1992) · Cited 1,422 times

Holding

It is the Attorney General who computes the amount of the § 3585(b) credit after the defendant has begun to serve his sentence.

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 7–2.

“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.

• Russello v. United States · 464 U.S. 16 (1983)
• United States v. Turkette · 452 U.S. 576 (1981)
• Gladstone, Realtors v. Village of Bellwood · 441 U.S. 91 (1979)
• United States Railroad Retirement Board v. Fritz · 449 U.S. 166 (1980)
• Gwaltney of Smithfield, Ltd. v. Chesapeake Bay Foundation, Inc. · 484 U.S. 49 (1987)
• Crandon v. United States · 494 U.S. 152 (1990)
• Union Bank v. Wolas · 502 U.S. 151 (1991)
• E. I. Du Pont De Nemours & Co. v. Train · 430 U.S. 112 (1977)
• Robertson v. Railroad Labor Board · 268 U.S. 619 (1925)
• Otte v. United States · 419 U.S. 43 (1974)

Cited by

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

• Reno v. Koray · 515 U.S. 50 (1995)
• Stokeling v. United States · 586 U.S. 73 (2019)
• Dada v. Mukasey · 554 U.S. 1 (2008)
• Carr v. United States · 560 U.S. 438 (2010)
• McNeill v. United States · 563 U.S. 816 (2011)
• Brown v. United States · 602 U.S. 101 (2024)
• Hewitt v. United States · 606 U.S. 419 (2025)

Official text

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

Explore from here

Clarence Thomas’s profile · All Supreme Court opinions · The Supreme Court

Source: Supreme Court of the United States, slip opinions (1992). 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).