Document ID: ./input/supremecourt_opinions/opinions/21pdf/20-1459_n7ip.pdf
Page Number: 4

Cite as:  596 U. S. ____ (2022) 

1 

Opinion of the Court 

NOTICE:  This opinion is subject to formal revision before publication in the 
preliminary  print  of  the  United  States  Reports.  Readers  are  requested  to 
notify the Reporter of Decisions, Supreme Court of the United States, Wash-
ington, D. C. 20543, of any typographical or other formal errors, in order that 
corrections may be made before the preliminary print goes to press. 

SUPREME COURT OF THE UNITED STATES 

_________________ 

No. 20–1459 
_________________ 

UNITED STATES, PETITIONER v. JUSTIN 
EUGENE TAYLOR 

ON WRIT OF CERTIORARI TO THE UNITED STATES COURT OF 
APPEALS FOR THE FOURTH CIRCUIT 

[June 21, 2022] 

JUSTICE GORSUCH delivered the opinion of the Court. 
Does attempted Hobbs Act robbery qualify as a “crime of
violence” under 18 U. S. C. § 924(c)(3)(A)?  The answer mat-
ters because a person convicted of attempted Hobbs Act rob-
bery alone normally faces up to 20 years in prison.  But if 
that  offense  qualifies  as  a  “crime  of  violence”  under
§ 924(c)(3)(A), the same individual may face a second felony 
conviction and years or decades of further imprisonment. 

I 
After a robbery went awry and his accomplice shot a man,
the federal government charged Justin Taylor with violat-
ing the Hobbs Act and § 924(c).  The Hobbs Act makes it a 
federal crime to commit, attempt to commit, or conspire to 
commit a robbery with an interstate component.  18 U. S. C. 
§ 1951(a).  Meanwhile, § 924(c) authorizes further punish-
ments  for  those  who  use  a  firearm  in  connection  with  a 
“crime of violence.” 

For  purposes  of  § 924(c),  a  federal  felony  qualifies  as  a 
“crime of violence” if it meets either of two definitions.  The 
first definition is found in § 924(c)(3)(A), a provision some-