Mathis v. United States

Brief of the National Association of Federal Defenders and the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers as Amici Curiae in Support of Petitioner. 

Brief filed: 02/29/2016

Documents

Mathis v. United States

United States Supreme Court; Case No. 15-6092

Prior Decision

Decision below 786 F.3d 1068 (8th Cir. May 12, 2015).

Argument(s)

Shepherd documents are not reliable indicators of whether a particular statutory alternative is a "means" or an "element." State law is a reliable and accessible indicator of statutory divisibility. In the rare case where state law is inconclusive, courts must apply a presumption of indivisibility.

Author(s)

Kara Hartzler and Vincent J. Brunkow, Federal Defenders of San Diego, Inc.; Eamon P. Joyce and Angela Zhu, Sidley Austin LLP, New York, NY; Jeffrey T. Green, NACDL, Washington, DC.