| Smith v. United States | ||||||
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Supreme Court of the United States |
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| Argued March 23, 1993 Decided June 1, 1993 |
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| Full case name | John Angus Smith, Petitioner v. United States | |||||
| Citations | 508 U.S. 223 (more) 113 S. Ct. 2050; 124 L. Ed. 2d 138; 1993 U.S. LEXIS 3740; 61 U.S.L.W. 4503; 93 Cal. Daily Op. Service 3929; 93 Daily Journal DAR 6966; 7 Fla. L. Weekly Fed. S 326 |
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| Prior history | On writ of certiorari to the United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit | |||||
| Court membership | ||||||
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| Case opinions | ||||||
| Majority | O'Connor, joined by Rehnquist, White, Blackmun, Kennedy, Thomas | |||||
| Concurrence | Blackmun | |||||
| Dissent | Scalia, joined by Stevens, Souter | |||||
Smith v. United States, 508 U.S. 223 (1993), is a United States Supreme Court case that held that the exchange of a gun for drugs constituted "use" of the firearm for purposes of a federal statute imposing penalties for "use" of a firearm "during and in relation to" a drug trafficking crime.
In Watson v. United States, 128 S.Ct. 697 (2007) the court later decided that a transaction in the opposite direction does not violate the same statute (i.e., Smith holds that one "uses" a gun by giving it in exchange for drugs, but Watson holds that one does not "use" a gun by receiving it in exchange for drugs).