Watson v. United States
| Watson v. United States | |
|---|---|
| Argued October 9, 2007 Decided December 10, 2007 | |
| Full case name | Michael A. Watson, Petitioner v. United States |
| Docket no. | 06-571 |
| Citations | 552 U.S. 74 (more) 128 S. Ct. 579; 169 L. Ed. 2d 472 |
| Case history | |
| Prior | United States v. Watson, 191 F. App'x 326 (5th Cir. 2006); cert. granted, 549 U.S. 1251 (2007). |
| Holding | |
| Smith v. United States (1993) holds that one "uses" a gun by giving it in exchange for drugs. A transaction in the opposite direction does not violate the same statute (one does not "use" a gun by receiving it in exchange for drugs). | |
| Court membership | |
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| Case opinions | |
| Majority | Souter, joined by Roberts, Stevens, Scalia, Kennedy, Thomas, Breyer, Alito |
| Concurrence | Ginsburg (in judgment) |
| Laws applied | |
| 18 U.S.C. § 924 | |
Watson v. United States, 552 U.S. 74 (2007), is a case decided by the Supreme Court of the United States. The Court had earlier held in Smith v. United States (1993) that the exchange of a gun for drugs constituted "use" of a firearm for purposes of a federal statute imposing penalties for "use" of a firearm "during and in relation to" a drug trafficking crime; in Watson, the court decided that a transaction in the opposite direction does not violate the same statute (i.e., Smith holds that one "uses" a gun by giving it in exchange for drugs, and Watson holds that one does not "use" a gun by receiving it in exchange for drugs).