Docket nos. 08-192 End date 2009 | Citations 556 U.S. 816 (more) | |
Full case name Salman Khade Abuelhawa, petitioner v. United States Prior history petitioner convicted 1:07-cr-00018-LMB (E.D. Va., 2007); affirmed 523 F.3d 415 (4th Cir.); reversed and remanded U.S. Majority Souter, joined by unanimous People also search for Montejo v. Louisiana, Dean v. United States, Arizona v. Gant | ||
Abuelhawa v. United States, 556 U.S. 816 (2009), was a United States Supreme Court case in which the Court held that a defendant who used a cellphone for the misdemeanor purchase of cocaine could not be charged with a felony for using a "communication facility" to facilitate the distribution of an illegal drug under 21 U.S.C. ยง 843(b). In a unanimous opinion delivered by Justice Souter, the Court reasoned that the Government's interpretation of "facilitate" exposed a first-time buyer using a phone "to punishment 12 times more severe than a purchase by a recidivist offender and 8 times more severe than the unauthorized possession of a drug used by rapists," and was clearly not in line with Congress's intent, since it conflicted with the classification of the drug sale itself as a misdemeanor.