How courts define crimes
Higinio Alejandro Gonzalez-Reyes v. United States
In brief
- Where it stands
- Petition Pending
Awaiting an order on the petition
- What it’s about
- Higinio Alejandro Gonzalez-Reyes filed a petition asking the Supreme Court to review a Ninth Circuit case about how courts compare a law’s elements with a traditional offense under the categorical approach (a method for comparing offenses).
- What's at stake
- The unresolved request concerns how courts compare offenses in Gonzalez-Reyes’s case; the Supreme Court has not agreed to review it.
Summary: written with AI from the case record.
What it's about
He asks whether the traditional offense’s definition can include elements found in multiple jurisdictions, rather than only most jurisdictions.
The categorical approach compares the elements of a law with the elements of a traditional offense.
Question presented
Whether, under the categorical approach, the generic definition of a traditional offense as “commonly understood” may include elements recognized in just multiple jurisdictions, or is the generic meaning limited to the elements found in most jurisdictions.
What happens next
The Court must decide whether to hear the case. No argument is scheduled, and no decision timing is available before the Court agrees to hear it.
Documents
Docket activity
New analysis added
AI analysis generated: Case Briefing
Case data updated: summary, question_presented, generation_metadata
Case data updated: question_presented, extraction_metadata
Brief added: Petition
Sources
Primary materials plus reporting. Best-effort analysis: this explainer relies on a mix of primary materials and trusted secondary sources. Official filings and opinions remain authoritative.