Case Citator › United States v. Rivera

United States v. Rivera

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

Overruled in part
Court
Fifth Circuit
Citation
265 F.3d 310
Decided
Confirmed treatments
1
Flagged citations read
47 of 47
Citing cases (total)
47
Treatment dates
2006
Overruled in part
A reviewed court has overruled part of this case’s holding. All 47 flagged citations to United States v. Rivera have been read. The Supreme Court's later decision in Lopez v. Gonzales displaced Rivera's rule that a state felony drug possession conviction qualifies as an aggravated felony for sentencing even when the conduct is only a federal misdemeanor.
More on how this was screened

United States v. Estrada-Mendoza confirmed that Lopez applies to the same sentencing guideline. Rivera's separate holding that Apprendi did not overrule Almendarez-Torres is unaffected by this ruling.

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.

47 later cases cite United States v. Rivera; 47 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 United States v. Rivera?

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 in part

  • The Supreme Court rejected the state felony classification alone as a basis for the aggravated felony sentencing increase, displacing Rivera's contrary rule on drug possession.

    Lopez v. Gonzales · Supreme Court of the United States · filed

    In sum, we hold that a state offense constitutes a “felony punishable under the Controlled Substances Act” only if it proscribes conduct punishable as a felony under that federal law.
    Read the full opinion on CourtListener →

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