Document ID: ./input/supremecourt_opinions/opinions/14pdf/13-1034_3dq4.pdf
Page Number: 5.0

2 

MELLOULI v. LYNCH 

Opinion of the Court 

U. S. C.  §1227(a)(2)(B)(i)  based  on  his  Kansas  misde- 
meanor conviction.  Section 1227(a)(2)(B)(i) authorizes the
removal of an alien “convicted of a violation of . . . any law 
or  regulation  of  a  State,  the  United  States,  or  a  foreign 
country  relating  to  a  controlled  substance  (as  defined  in
section  802  of  Title  21).”    We  hold  that  Mellouli’s  Kansas 
conviction  for  concealing  unnamed  pills  in  his  sock  did 
not  trigger  removal  under  §1227(a)(2)(B)(i).    The  drug-
paraphernalia possession law under which he was convicted, 
Kan.  Stat.  Ann.  §21–5709(b),  by  definition,  related  to  a 
controlled  substance:  The  Kansas  statute  made  it  unlaw-
ful  “to  use  or  possess  with  intent  to  use  any  drug  para-
phernalia  to  . . .  store  [or]  conceal  . . .  a  controlled  sub-
stance.”  But  it  was  immaterial  under  that  law  whether 
the  substance  was  defined  in  21  U. S. C.  §802.  Nor  did 
the State charge, or seek to prove, that Mellouli possessed 
law 
a  substance  on  the  §802  schedules. 
(§1227(a)(2)(B)(i)),  therefore,  did  not  authorize  Mellouli’s
removal. 

Federal 

I 

A 

This case involves the interplay between several federal 
and state statutes.  Section 1227(a)(2)(B)(i), a provision of 
the  Immigration  and  Nationality  Act,  66  Stat.  163,  as
amended, authorizes the removal of an alien “convicted of 
a  violation  of  . . .  any  law  or  regulation  of  a  State,  the 
United States, or a foreign country relating to a controlled 
substance  (as  defined  in  section  802  of  Title  21),  other
than  a  single  offense  involving  possession  for  one’s  own 
use  of  30  grams  or 
Section 
1227(a)(2)(B)(i) incorporates 21 U. S. C. §802, which limits
the  term  “controlled  substance”  to  a  “drug  or  other  sub-
stance” included in one of five federal schedules.  §802(6).

less  of  marijuana.” 

The  statute  defining  the  offense  to  which  Mellouli 
pleaded  guilty,  Kan.  Stat.  Ann.  §21–5709(b),  proscribes