Case Citator › Sykes v. United States

Sykes v. United States

Is it still good law? What later courts have actually done to this case.

Overruled
Court
Supreme Court of the United States
Citation
564 U.S. 1
Decided
Confirmed treatments
1
Flagged citations read
114 of 114
Citing cases (total)
522
Treatment dates
2015
Overruled
A reviewed court has overruled this case. Sykes v. United States was overruled: all 114 flagged citations have been read, and the confirmed treatment is listed below. Johnson v. United States expressly overruled Sykes's contrary holdings and held the Armed Career Criminal Act's residual clause unconstitutionally vague, while preserving the Act's enumerated offenses and the remainder of its violent-felony definition.
More on how this was screened

The other opinions applied Sykes before Johnson, later reported Johnson's overruling, rejected arguments about extending the residual-clause analysis to other provisions, or used nearby treatment language for other authorities. One Ninth Circuit panel opinion was vacated for en banc rehearing and supplied no treatment. Repeated citations and copies of the same opinions were read separately.

Every treatment on this page is written from the citing opinion itself, with a verbatim quote, never copied from a commercial citator. A citation flagged by our screen but not shown here was read and found not to weaken this case.

522 later cases cite Sykes v. United States; 114 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 Sykes 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

  • The Supreme Court overruled Sykes's holding upholding ACCA's residual clause and held that the clause is unconstitutionally vague.

    Johnson v. United States · Supreme Court of the United States · filed

    We hold that imposing an increased sentence under the residual clause of the Armed Career Criminal Act violates the Constitution's guarantee of due process. Our contrary holdings in James and Sykes are overruled. Today's decision does not call into question application of the Act to the four enumerated offenses, or the remainder of the Act's definition of a violent felony.
    Read the full opinion on CourtListener →

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