McFadden v. United States

McFadden v. United States
Argued April 21, 2015
Decided June 18, 2015
Full case nameStephen Dominick McFadden, Petitioner v. United States
Docket no.14-378
Citations576 U.S. 186 (more)
135 S. Ct. 2298; 192 L. Ed. 2d 260
ArgumentOral argument
Opinion announcementOpinion announcement
Case history
PriorUnited States v. McFadden, 15 F. Supp. 3d 668 (W.D. Va. 2013); affirmed, 753 F.3d 432 (4th Cir. 2014); cert. granted, 135 S. Ct. 2298 (2015).
Holding
Under §841(a)(1) of the Controlled Substances Act, the government must prove the defendant knew he was dealing with a controlled substance when it is an analogue. United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit vacated and remanded.
Court membership
Chief Justice
John Roberts
Associate Justices
Antonin Scalia · Anthony Kennedy
Clarence Thomas · Ruth Bader Ginsburg
Stephen Breyer · Samuel Alito
Sonia Sotomayor · Elena Kagan
Case opinions
MajorityThomas, joined by Scalia, Kennedy, Ginsburg, Breyer, Alito, Sotomayor, Kagan
ConcurrenceRoberts (in part)
Laws applied

McFadden v. United States, 576 U.S. 186 (2015), was a United States Supreme Court case in which the Court held that section 841 of the Controlled Substances Act requires the government to prove that to be in criminal violation, a defendant must be aware that an analogue defined by the Controlled Substance Analogue Enforcement Act with which he was dealing was a controlled substance.