Document ID: ./input/supremecourt_opinions/opinions/14pdf/13-7120_p86b.pdf
Page Number: 39

2 

JOHNSON v. UNITED STATES 

ALITO, J., dissenting 

I 

A 

Petitioner  Samuel  Johnson  (unlike  his  famous  name­
sake) has led a life of crime and violence.  His presentence 
investigation report sets out a résumé of petty and serious 
crimes,  beginning  when  he  was  12  years  old.    Johnson’s 
adult record includes convictions for, among other things, 
robbery, attempted robbery, illegal possession of a sawed-
off shotgun, and a drug offense.

In  2010,  the  Federal  Bureau  of  Investigation  (FBI) 
began  monitoring  Johnson  because  of  his  involvement 
with 
the  National  Socialist  Movement,  a  white-
supremacist  organization  suspected  of  plotting  acts  of
terrorism.  In  June  of  that  year,  Johnson  left  the  group 
and formed his own radical organization, the Aryan Liber­
ation Movement, which he planned to finance by counter­
feiting  United  States  currency.  In  the  course  of  the  Gov­
ernment’s investigation, Johnson “disclosed to undercover 
FBI  agents  that  he  manufactured  napalm,  silencers,  and 
other explosives for” his new organization.  526 Fed. Appx.
708,  709  (CA8  2013)  (per  curiam).    He  also  showed  the  
agents an AK–47 rifle, a semiautomatic rifle, a semiauto­
matic pistol, and a cache of approximately 1,100 rounds of
ammunition.  Later,  Johnson  told  an  undercover  agent:
“You  know  I’d  love  to  assassinate  some  . . .  hoodrats  as 
much  as  the  next  guy,  but  I  think  we  really  got  to  stick 
with  high  priority  targets.”    Revised  Presentence  Investi­
gation  Report  (PSR)  ¶15.    Among  the  top  targets  that  he
mentioned  were  “the  Mexican  consulate,”  “progressive 
bookstores,”  and  individuals  he  viewed  as  “liberals.” 
PSR ¶16.

In April 2012, Johnson was arrested, and he was subse­
quently  indicted  on  four  counts  of possession of  a  firearm 
by a felon and two counts of possession of ammunition by
a felon, in violation of 18 U. S. C. §§922(g) and §924(e).  He 
pleaded guilty to one of the firearms counts, and the Dis­