Harris v. United States
Is it still good law? What later courts have actually done to this case.
Status
More on how this was screened
The Supreme Court then expressly overruled Harris in Alleyne v. United States; later opinions merely report or apply Alleyne's act.
1,504 later cases cite Harris v. United States; 385 of those citations sat close to treatment language and were flagged for reading, and all of them have been read. Citations that did not sit near treatment language were not flagged and were not read one by one, so a court that weakened this case without using any of that language would not appear here.
Relying on Harris v. United States?
This page shows what later courts did to it. Ask about your specific facts and see whether it still carries your argument, with citations you can check.
Treatments
Overruled
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The Supreme Court overruled Harris's rule permitting judges to find facts that increase a mandatory minimum, holding that such facts are elements that must be submitted to a jury and found beyond a reasonable doubt.
Alleyne v. United States · Supreme Court of the United States · filed
Because there is no basis in principle or logic to distinguish facts that raise the maximum from those that increase the minimum, Harris was inconsistent with Apprendi. It is, accordingly, overruled.
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Questioned
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The Ninth Circuit stated that Harris was difficult to reconcile with the Supreme Court's later Sixth Amendment jurisprudence, while continuing to follow it as binding precedent.
United States v. Dare · Ninth Circuit · filed
We agree that Harris is difficult to reconcile with the Supreme Court’s recent Sixth Amendment jurisprudence, but Harris has not been overruled.
Read the full opinion on CourtListener → -
The court stated that Booker and Blakely had undermined Harris's reasoning, while continuing to apply Harris because lower courts could not overrule it.
United States v. Ezell · E.D. Pa. · filed
This Court concludes that, although the reasoning of Harris v. United States, 536 U.S. 545, 122 S.Ct. 2406, 153 L.Ed.2d 524 (2002), has been undermined by Booker and Blakely, it is not the role of this Court to overrule a decision of the Supreme Court, or even to anticipate such an overruling by the Supreme Court.
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