Document ID: ./input/supremecourt_opinions/opinions/14pdf/13-7120_p86b.pdf
Page Number: 20.0

2 

JOHNSON v. UNITED STATES 

THOMAS, J., concurring in judgment 

cess, a judicially created doctrine lacking any basis in the 
Constitution. 

I 
We could have easily disposed of this case without nulli-
fying  ACCA’s  residual  clause.    Under  ordinary  principles 
of  statutory  interpretation,  the  crime  of  unlawfully  pos-
sessing  a  short-barreled  shotgun  does  not  constitute  a 
“violent  felony”  under  ACCA.    In  relevant  part,  that  Act
defines  a  “violent  felony”  as  a  “crime  punishable  by  im-
prisonment for a term exceeding one year” that either 

“(i)  has  as  an  element  the  use,  attempted  use,  or 
threatened use of physical force against the person of
another; or 

“(ii)  is  burglary,  arson,  or  extortion,  involves use  of
explosives,  or  otherwise  involves  conduct  that  pre-
sents a serious potential risk of physical injury to an-
other.”  18 U. S. C. §924(e)(2)(B). 

The  offense  of  unlawfully  possessing  a  short-barreled 
shotgun neither satisfies the first clause of this definition
nor falls within the enumerated offenses in the second.  It 
therefore  can  constitute  a  violent  felony  only  if  it  falls
within  ACCA’s  so-called  “residual  clause”—i.e.,  if  it  “in-
volves  conduct  that  presents  a  serious  potential  risk  of
physical injury to another.”  §924(e)(2)(B)(ii).

To determine whether an offense falls within the resid-
ual clause, we consider “whether the conduct encompassed
by  the  elements  of  the  offense,  in  the  ordinary  case,  pre-
sents a serious potential risk of injury to another.”  James 
v.  United  States,  550  U. S.  192,  208  (2007).    The  specific
crimes  listed  in  §924(e)(2)(B)(ii)—arson,  extortion,  bur-
glary, and an offense involving the use of explosives—offer 
a “baseline against which to measure the degree of risk” a 
crime must present to fall within that clause.  Id., at 208. 
Those offenses do not provide a high threshold, see id., at