United States v. Castleman

• Decision Date: 26 March 2014
• Docket Number: No. 12–1371.,12–1371.
• Parties: UNITED STATES, petitioner v. James Alvin CASTLEMAN.
• Court: U.S. Supreme Court

572 U.S. 157

134 S.Ct. 1405

188 L.Ed.2d 426

UNITED STATES, petitioner

v.James Alvin CASTLEMAN.

No. 12–1371.

Supreme Court of the United States

Argued Jan. 15, 2014.

Decided March 26, 2014.

Melissa Arbus Sherry, Washington, DC, for Petitioner.

Charles A. Rothfeld, Washington, DC, for Respondent.

Steven L. West, West & West Attorneys, Huntingdon, TN, Eugene R. Fidell, New Haven, CT, Charles A. Rothfeld, Counsel of Record, Andrew J. Pincus, Paul W. Hughes, Michael B. Kimberly, Mayer Brown LLP, Washington, DC, for Respondent.

Donald B. Verrilli, Jr., Solicitor General, Mythili Raman, Acting Assistant Attorney General, Michael R. Dreeben, Deputy Solicitor General, Melissa Arbus Sherry, Assistant to the Solicitor General, Counsel of Record, Joseph C. Wyderko, Washington, DC, for Petitioner.

Justice SOTOMAYOR delivered the opinion of the Court.

Recognizing that "[f]irearms and domestic strife are a potentially deadly combination," United States v. Hayes, 555 U.S. 415, 427, 129 S.Ct. 1079, 172 L.Ed.2d 816 (2009), Congress forbade the possession of firearms by anyone convicted of "a misdemeanor crime of domestic violence." 18 U.S.C. § 922(g)(9). The respondent, James Alvin Castleman, pleaded guilty to the misdemeanor offense of having "intentionally or knowingly cause[d] bodily injury to" the mother of his child. App. 27. The question before us is whether this conviction qualifies as "a misdemeanor crime of domestic violence." We hold that it does.

I

A

This country witnesses more than a million acts of domestic violence, and hundreds of deaths from domestic violence, each year.¹ See Georgia v. Randolph, 547 U.S. 103, 117–118, 126 S.Ct. 1515, 164 L.Ed.2d 208 (2006). Domestic violence often escalates in severity over time, see Brief for Major Cities Chiefs Association et al. as Amici Curiae 13–15; Brief for National Network to End Domestic Violence et al. as Amici Curiae 9–12, and the presence of a firearm increases the likelihood that it will escalate to homicide, see id., at 14–15; Campbell et al., Assessing Risk Factors for Intimate Partner Homicide, DOJ, Nat. Institute of Justice J., No. 250, p. 16 (Nov. 2003) ("When a gun was in the house, an abused woman was 6 times more likely than other abused women to be killed"). "[A]ll too often," as one Senator noted during the debate over § 922(g)(9), "the only difference between a battered woman and a dead woman is the presence of a gun." 142 Cong. Rec. 22986 (1996) (statement of Sen. Wellstone).

Congress enacted § 922(g)(9), in light of these sobering facts, to " 'close [a] dangerous loophole' " in the gun control laws: While felons had long been barred from possessing guns, many perpetrators of domestic violence are convicted only of misdemeanors. Hayes, 555 U.S., at 418, 426, 129 S.Ct. 1079. Section 922(g)(9) provides, as relevant, that any person "who has been convicted ... of a misdemeanor crime of domestic violence" may not "possess in or affecting commerc[e] any firearm or ammunition." With exceptions that do not apply here, the statute defines a "misdemeanor crime of domestic violence" as

"an offense that ... (i) is a misdemeanor under Federal, State, or Tribal law; and (ii) has, as an element, the use or attempted use of physical force, or the threatened use of a deadly weapon, committed by a current or former spouse, parent, or guardian of the victim, by a person with whom the victim shares a child in common, by a person who is cohabiting with or has cohabited with the victim as a spouse, parent, or guardian, or by a person similarly situated to a spouse, parent, or guardian of the victim." § 921(a)(33)(A).

This case concerns the meaning of one phrase in this definition: "the use ... of physical force."

B

In 2001, Castleman was charged in a Tennessee court with having "intentionally or knowingly cause[d] bodily injury to" the mother of his child, in violation of Tenn.Code Ann. § 39–13–111(b) (Supp.2002). App. 27. He pleaded guilty. Id., at 29.

In 2008, federal authorities learned that Castleman was selling firearms on the black market. A grand jury in the Western District of Tennessee indicted him on two counts of violating § 922(g)(9) and on other charges not relevant here. Id., at 13–16.

Castleman moved to dismiss the § 922(g)(9) charges, arguing that his Tennessee conviction did not qualify as a "misdemeanor crime of domestic violence" because it did not "ha[ve], as an element, the use ... of physical force," § 921(a)(33)(A)(ii). The District Court agreed, on the theory that "the 'use of physical force' for § 922(g)(9) purposes" must entail "violent contact with the victim." App. to Pet. for Cert. 40a. The court held that a conviction under the relevant Tennessee statute cannot qualify as a "misdemeanor crime of domestic violence" because one can cause bodily injury without "violent contact"—for example, by "deceiving [the victim] into drinking a poisoned beverage." Id., at 41a.

A divided panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit affirmed, by different reasoning. 695 F.3d 582 (2012). The majority held that the degree of physical force required by § 921(a)(33)(A)(ii) is the same as required by § 924(e)(2)(B)(i), which defines "violent felony." Id., at 587. Applying our decision in Johnson v. United States, 559 U.S. 133, 130 S.Ct. 1265, 176 L.Ed.2d 1 (2010), which held that § 924(e)(2)(B)(i) requires "violent force," id., at 140, 130 S.Ct. 1265, the majority held that Castleman's conviction did not qualify as a "misdemeanor crime of domestic violence" because Castleman could have been convicted for "caus[ing] a slight, nonserious physical injury with conduct that cannot be described as violent." 695 F.3d, at 590. Judge MCKEAGUE dissented, arguing both that the majority erred in extending Johnson 's definition of a "violent felony" to the context of a "misdemeanor crime of domestic violence" and that, in any event, Castleman's conviction satisfied the Johnson standard. Id., at 593–597.

The Sixth Circuit's decision deepened a split of authority among the Courts of Appeals. Compare, e.g., United States v. Nason, 269 F.3d 10, 18 (C.A.1 2001) ( § 922(g)(9)"encompass[es] crimes characterized by the application of any physical force"), with United States v. Belless, 338 F.3d 1063, 1068 (C.A.9 2003) ( § 922(g)(9) covers only "the violent use of force"). We granted certiorari to resolve this split, 570 U.S. ––––, 134 S.Ct. 49, 186 L.Ed.2d 962 (2013), and now reverse the Sixth Circuit's judgment.

II

A

"It is a settled principle of interpretation that, absent other indication, 'Congress intends to incorporate the well-settled meaning of the common-law terms it uses.' " Sekhar v. United States, 570 U.S. ––––, ––––, 133 S.Ct. 2720, 2724, 186 L.Ed.2d 794 (2013). Seeing no "other indication" here, we hold that Congress incorporated the common-law meaning of "force"—namely, offensive touching —in § 921(a)(33)(A)'s definition of a "misdemeanor crime of domestic violence."

Johnson resolves this case in the Government's favor—not, as the Sixth Circuit held, in Castleman's. In Johnson, we considered whether a battery conviction was a "violent felony" under the Armed Career Criminal Act (ACCA), § 924(e)(1). As here, ACCA defines such a crime as one that "has as an element the use ... of physical force," § 924(e)(2)(B)(i). We began by observing that at common law, the element of force in the crime of battery was "satisfied by even the slightest offensive touching." 559 U.S., at 139, 130 S.Ct. 1265 (citing 3 W. Blackstone, Commentaries on the Laws of England 120 (1768)).² And we recognized the general rule that "a common-law term of art should be given its established common-law meaning," except "where that meaning does not fit." 559 U.S., at 139, 130 S.Ct. 1265. We declined to read the common-law meaning of "force" into ACCA's definition of a "violent felony," because we found it a "comical misfit with the defined term." Id., at 145, 130 S.Ct. 1265; see United States v. Stevens, 559 U.S. 460, 474, 130 S.Ct. 1577, 176 L.Ed.2d 435 (2010) ("[A]n unclear definitional phrase may take meaning from the term to be defined"). In defining a " 'violent felony,' " we held, "the phrase 'physical force' " must "mea[n] violent force." Johnson, 559 U.S., at 140, 130 S.Ct. 1265. But here, the common-law meaning of "force" fits perfectly: The very reasons we gave for rejecting that meaning in defining a "violent felony" are reasons to embrace it in defining a "misdemeanor crime of domestic violence."³

First, because perpetrators of domestic violence are " routinely prosecuted under generally applicable assault or battery laws," Hayes, 555 U.S., at 427, 129 S.Ct. 1079, it makes sense for Congress to have classified as a "misdemeanor crime of domestic violence" the type of conduct that supports a common-law battery conviction. Whereas it was "unlikely" that Congress meant to incorporate in the definition of a " 'violent felony' a phrase that the common law gave peculiar meaning only in its definition of a misdemeanor," Johnson, 559 U.S., at 141, 130 S.Ct. 1265, it is likely that Congress meant to incorporate that misdemeanor-specific meaning of "force" in defining a "misdemeanor crime of domestic violence."

Second, whereas the word "violent" or "violence" standing alone "connotes a substantial degree of force," id., at 140, 130 S.Ct. 1265,⁴ THAT IS NOT TRUE OF "DOMESTIC VIOLENCE." "DOMESTIC Violence" is not merely a type of "violence"; it is a term of art encompassing acts that one might not characterize as "violent" in a nondomestic context. See Brief for National Network to End Domestic Violence et al. as Amici Curiae 4–9; DOJ, Office on Violence Against Women, Domestic Violence (defining physical forms of domestic violence to include "[h]itting, slapping, shoving, grabbing, pinching, biting, [and] hair pulling"), online at http://www.ovw.usdoj.gov/domviolence.htm.⁵ Indeed, "most physical assaults committed against women and men by intimates are relatively minor and consist of pushing, grabbing, shoving,...