Task: sc_issue_1

What follows is an opinion from the Supreme Court of the United States. Your task is to determine the issue of the Court's decision. Determine the issue of the case on the basis of the Court's own statements as to what the case is about. Focus on the subject matter of the controversy rather than its legal basis.

Justice Ginsburg
delivered the opinion of the Court.
As one of several measures to punish gun possession by-persons engaged in crime, Congress made it a discrete offense to use, carry, or possess a deadly weapon in connection with “any crime of violence or drug trafficking crime.” 18 U. S. C. § 924(e)(1)(A). The minimum prison term for the offense described in § 924(c) is five years, § 924(c)(l)(A)(i), in addition to “any other term of imprisonment imposed on the [offender],” § 924(c)(l)(D)(ii). The two consolidated cases before us call for interpretation of § 924(c) as that provision was reformulated in 1998.
Kevin Abbott and Carlos Rashad Gould, petitioners here, defendants below, were charged with multiple drug and firearm offenses; charges on which they were convicted included violation of § 924(c). Each objected to the imposition of any additional prison time for his § 924(c) conviction. Their objections rested on the “except” clause now prefacing § 924(c)(1)(A). Under that clause, a minimum term of five years shall be imposed as a consecutive sentence “[e]xcept to the extent that a greater minimum sentence is otherwise provided by [§ 924(c) itself] or by any other provision of law.”
Abbott and Gould read § 924(c)’s “except” clause to secure them against prison time for their § 924(c) convictions. They claim exemption from punishment under § 924(c) because they were sentenced to greater mandatory minimum prison terms for convictions on other counts charging different offenses. The “except” clause, they urge, ensures that § 924(c) offenders will serve at least five years in prison. If conviction on a different count yields a mandatory sentence exceeding five years, they maintain, the statutory requirement is satisfied and the penalty specified for the § 924(c) violation becomes inoperative.
The courts below, agreeing with the Government’s construction of the statute, read § 924(c)(1) as independently requiring a sentence of at least five years, tacked onto any other sentence the defendant receives. The “except” clause refers to “a greater minimum sentence... otherwise provided.” “[Ojtherwise provided” for what, the courts below asked; their answer, for conduct offending § 924(c), i. e., possessing a firearm in connection with a crime of violence or drug-trafficking crime.
A defendant is not spared from a separate, consecutive sentence for a § 924(c) conviction, the lower courts determined, whenever he faces a higher mandatory minimum for a different count of conviction. Instead, according to the courts below and the Government here, the “except” clause applies only when another provision — whether contained within or placed outside § 924(c) — commands a longer term for conduct violating § 924(e). For example, the mandatory minimum sentence for a § 924(c) offense is five years, but if the firearm is brandished, the minimum rises to seven years, and if the firearm is discharged, to ten years. § 924(e)(l)(A)(i), (ii), (iii). A defendant who possessed, brandished, and discharged a firearm in violation of § 924(c) would thus face a mandatory minimum term of ten years.
We hold, in accord with the courts below, and in line with the majority of the Courts of Appeals, that a defendant is subject to a mandatory, consecutive sentence for a § 924(c) conviction, and is not spared from that sentence by virtue of receiving a higher mandatory minimum on a different count of conviction. Under the “except” clause as we comprehend it, a § 924(c) offender is not subject to stacked sentences for violating § 924(c). If he possessed, brandished, and discharged a gun, the mandatory penalty would be 10 years, not 22. He is, however, subject to the highest mandatory minimum specified for his conduct in § 924(c), unless another provision of law directed to conduct proscribed by § 924(c) imposes an even greater mandatory minimum.
I
Abbott and Gould, defendants in unrelated prosecutions, were each charged with violating § 924(c)(l)(A)(i) by possessing a firearm in furtherance of a drug-trafficking crime. Abbott’s case was tried to a jury in the Eastern District of Pennsylvania, which convicted him on the § 924(c) count and three others: two predicate trafficking counts, 21 U. S. C. §§841, 846, and being a felon in possession of a firearm, 18 U. S. C. § 922(g). Given Abbott’s extensive criminal history, his felon-in-possession conviction triggered a 15-year mandatory minimum under the Armed Career Criminal Act (ACCA), 18 U. S. C. § 924(e). The District Court sentenced Abbott to the 15 years mandated by ACCA, and to an additional five years for the § 924(c) violation, yielding a total prison term of 20 years.
Gould’s indictment listed seven separate drug and firearm charges. In return for Gould’s agreement to plead guilty, the Government dropped all but two: one § 924(c) offense and one predicate drug-trafficking crime. The latter, for conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute cocaine base, carried a ten-year mandatory minimum under § 841(b)(1)(A). Firearm involvement was not an element of that offense. The United States District Court for the Northern District of Texas imposed a sentence of 11 years and five months for the trafficking offense and an additional five years for the § 924(e) violation, for a total of 16 years and five months.
On appeal, Abbott and Gould challenged the five-year consecutive sentence each received under § 924(c). Abbott urged that ACCA’s 15-year mandatory minimum triggered §924(c)’s “except” clause, because ACCA qualified as “[an]other provision of law” that “provided” a “greater minimum sentence.” Gould said the same of the ten years commanded by his predicate trafficking crime.
The United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit affirmed Abbott’s sentence, concluding that the “except” clause “refers only to other minimum sentences that may be imposed for violations of § 924(c).” 574 F. 3d 203, 208 (2009). Gould fared no better before the Fifth Circuit. 329 Fed. Appx. 569, 570 (2009) (per curiam). That court’s precedent already confined the exception to conduct offending § 924(c). United States v. London, 568 F. 3d 553, 564 (2009). To resolve the division among the Circuits on the proper construction of §924(c)’s “except” clause, we granted certiorari in both cases and consolidated them for argument. 559 U. S. 903 (2010).
II
A
Congress enacted 18 U. S. C. § 924(c) as part of the Gun Control Act of 1968, 82 Stat. 1213. The “except” clause, which did not appear in § 924(c) as originally composed, was introduced by statutory amendment in 1998. See An Act [t]o throttle criminal use of guns, 112 Stat. 3469. We begin by setting out § 924(c), first as it read before 1998, then as amended that year.
The earlier version read in relevant part:
“Whoever, during and in relation to any crime of violence or drug trafficking crime (including a crime of violence or drug trafficking crime which provides for an enhanced punishment if committed by the use of a deadly or dangerous weapon or device)..., uses or carries a firearm, shall, in addition to the punishment provided for such crime of violence or drug trafficking crime, be sentenced to imprisonment for five years, and if the firearm is a short-barreled rifle, short-barreled shotgun, or semiautomatic assault weapon, to imprisonment for ten years, and if the firearm is a machinegun, or a destructive device, or is equipped with a firearm silencer or firearm muffler, to imprisonment for thirty years. In the case of his second or subsequent conviction under this subsection, such person shall be sentenced to imprisonment for twenty years, and if the firearm is a machinegun, or a destructive device, or is equipped with a firearm silencer or firearm muffler, to life imprisonment without release. Notwithstanding any other provision of law,... the term of imprisonment imposed under this subsection [shall not] run concurrently with any other term of imprisonment including that imposed for the crime of violence or drug trafficking crime in which the firearm was used or carried.” § 924(c)(1) (1994 ed.) (footnote omitted).
If this pre-1998 text governed, all agree, separate counts of conviction would have no preemptive force, and Abbott and Gould would have been correctly sentenced under § 924(c). The question we confront is whether Congress’ 1998 reformulation of § 924(c) rendered the sentences imposed on Abbott and Gould excessive.
The 1998 alteration responded primarily to our decision in Bailey v. United States, 516 U. S. 137 (1995). In proscribing “use” of a firearm, Bailey held, § 924(c)(1) did not reach “mere possession” of the weapon. Id., at 144. Congress legislated a different result; in the 1998 revision, “colloquially known as the Bailey Fix Act,” the Legislature brought possession within the statute’s compass. United States v. O’Brien, 560 U. S. 218, 233 (2010) (internal quotation marks omitted).
In addition to the change prompted by Bailey, Congress increased the severity of § 924(c) sentences in two other respects: The 1998 revision “changed what were once mandatory sentences into mandatory minimum sentences,” O’Brien, 560 U. S., at 232; and it elevated the sentences for brandishing and discharging a firearm and for repeat offenses. Congress also restructured the provision, “divid[ing] what was once a lengthy principal sentence into separate subparagraphs.” Id., at 227. And it added the prefatory “except” clause at issue in the cases now before us. As amended, § 924(c)(1)(A) prescribes:
“Except to the extent that a greater minimum sentence is otherwise provided by this subsection or by any other provision of law, any person who, during and in relation to any crime of violence or drug trafficking crime (including a crime of violence or drug trafficking crime that provides for an enhanced punishment if committed by the use of a deadly or dangerous weapon or device) for which the person may be prosecuted in a court of the United States, uses or carries a firearm, or who, in furtherance of any such crime, possesses a firearm, shall, in addition to the punishment provided for such crime of violence or drug trafficking crime—
“(i) be sentenced to a term of imprisonment of not less than 5 years;
“(ii) if the firearm is brandished, be sentenced to a term of imprisonment of not less than 7 years; and “(iii) if the firearm is discharged, be sentenced to a term of imprisonment of not less than 10 years.”
The 1998 reformulation, furthermore, removed to separate paragraphs the provisions commanding higher penalties for especially destructive weapons and “second or subsequent” offenses. See § 924(c)(1)(B), (C). While leaving the penalties for highly destructive weapons unchanged, the revision raised the base punishment for “second or subsequent” offenses from 20 years to 25. Ibid. The reformulation also transferred the bar on concurrent sentences to § 924(c)(l)(D)(ii):
“[N]o term of imprisonment imposed on a person under this subsection shall run concurrently with any other term of imprisonment imposed on the person, including any term of imprisonment imposed for the crime of violence or drug trafficking crime during which the firearm was used, carried, or possessed.”
B
The leading portion of the “except” clause, which now prefaces § 924(c)(1)(A), refers to a “greater minimum sentence... otherwise provided by this subsection,” i. e., by § 924(c) itself; the second segment of the clause refers to a greater minimum provided outside § 924(c) “by any other provision of law.” Beyond debate, the latter instruction does not re-Heve a § 924(c) offender of additional punishment “simply because a higher mandatory minimum sentence exists in the United States Code.” Brief for Petitioner in No. 09-479, p. 19 (hereinafter Abbott Brief). Were it otherwise, the statute’s ascending series of minimums, set out in § 924(e)(l)(A)-(C), would have no work to do; the only possible § 924(c) sentence would be the Code’s highest — life. The “except” clause, it is therefore undisputed, “has to have some understood referent to be intelligible.” United States v. Parker, 549 F. 3d 5, 11 (CA1 2008). What should that referent be? As we comprehend the clause, to determine whether a greater minimum sentence is “otherwise provided... by any other provision of law,” the key question one must ask is: otherwise provided for whatl As earlier noted, see supra, at 13, most courts, in line with the courts below and the Government, have answered: for the conduct § 924(c) proscribes, i. e., possessing a firearm in connection with a predicate crime.
Abbott and Gould disagree and offer diverse readings. Gould principally would apply the “except” clause to preclude a § 924(c) sentence whenever “any of a defendant’s counts of eonvictio[n] at sentencing” require a greater minimum sentence. Brief for Petitioner in No. 09-7073, p. 14 (hereinafter Gould Brief).
In lieu of Gould’s position that any greater minimum sentence on a different count of conviction will do, Abbott advances a somewhat narrower “transactional approach.” Any sentence imposed on the defendant fits the bill, he urges, so long as the sentence was imposed “because of the criminal transaction that triggered § 924(c) in the first place.” Abbott Brief 10. Accord United States v. Williams, 558 F. 3d 166, 171 (CA2 2009).
Abbott also tenders an alternative construction: The minimum sentence “otherwise provided” must be for a firearm offense — for example, Abbott’s felon-in-possession charge— involving the same firearm that triggered § 924(c). Conceding that this reading is “not commanded by the [statute’s] plain language,” Tr. of Oral Arg. 24, Abbott asserts that it advances § 924(c)’s goal — to discourage bearing arms in furtherance of crime — while avoiding the imposition of “two consecutive mandatory minimum sentences for the single use of a single firearm,” Abbott Brief 47 (emphasis omitted).
The three interpretations just described share a common premise. In adding the “except” clause in 1998, all three posit, Congress adopted a less aggressive mode of applying § 924(c), one that significantly reduced the severity of the provision’s impact on defendants. Like the courts below, we regard this premise as implausible. As earlier observed, see supra, at 15-16, the pre-1998 version of § 924(c) prescribed a discrete sentence — punishment to be imposed regardless of the sentence received for the predicate crime or any separate firearm conviction. Abbott and Gould think the “except” clause installed, instead, a modest scheme designed simply to ensure that all § 924(c) offenders “serve at least 5 years in prison.” Gould Brief 5; see Abbott Brief 10. We doubt that Congress meant a prefatory clause, added in a bill dubbed “An Act [t]o throttle criminal use of guns,” to effect a departure so great from § 924(c)’s longstanding thrust, i. e., its insistence that sentencing judges impose additional punishment for § 924(c) violations.
Were we to accept any of the readings proposed by Abbott or Gould, it bears emphasis, we would undercut that same bill’s primary objective: to expand §924(c)’s coverage to reach firearm possession. In 1999, more than half of those who violated § 924(c) in connection with a drug-trafficking offense received a mandatory minimum of ten years or more for that trafficking offense. Letter from Glenn R. Schmitt, United States Sentencing Commission, to Supreme Court Library (Nov. 10,2010) (available in Clerk of Court’s ease file). Congress, however, imposed only a five-year minimum for firearm possession “in furtherance of” a drug offense. As construed by Abbott and Gould, the amendment to include firearm possession as a § 924(c) offense would spare the most serious drug offenders from any discrete punishment for the very firearm activity the amendment targeted. “We are disinclined to say that what Congress imposed with one hand... it withdrew with the other....” Logan v. United States, 552 U. S. 23, 35 (2007).
Abbott’s and Gould’s proposed readings, moreover, would result in sentencing anomalies Congress surely did not intend. We note first that § 924(c), as they construe it, would often impose no penalty at all for the conduct that provision makes independently criminal. Tr. of Oral Arg. 52. For example, an individual who sold enough drugs to receive a ten-year minimum sentence under § 841(b)(1)(A) could, so far as § 924(c) is concerned, possess or even brandish a gun without incurring any additional punishment.
Stranger still, under the Abbott and Gould readings, the worst offenders would often secure the shortest sentences. Consider two defendants convicted of trafficking in cocaine. The first possesses 500 grams and is subject to a mandatory minimum of five years, § 841(b)(1)(B); the second possesses five kilograms and is subject to a mandatory minimum of ten years, § 841(b)(1)(A). Both brandish firearms, calling for a sentence of seven years under § 924(c)(l)(A)(ii). The first defendant, under all readings, will spend at least 12 years in prison. The second defendant’s ten-year drug minimum, according to Abbott and Gould, triggers the “except” clause and wipes out that defendant’s § 924(c) penalty; though the more culpable of the two, the second defendant’s minimum term would be just ten years. Brief for United States 40. Like the Third Circuit below, “[w]e are confident that Congress did not intend such a bizarre result. ” 574 F. 3d, at 209.
Abbott’s alternative construction, which homes in on other firearm offenses, gives rise to similar oddities. On this reading, Abbott’s 15-year ACCA sentence for being a felon in possession would preempt his five-year § 924(c) sentence, and his minimum term would be 15 years, rather than 20. But if ACCA were not at issue, Abbott’s minimum term would be the same 15 years: his five-year § 924(c) sentence on top of his ten-year drug sentence. Qualification as a career criminal would carry no consequence.
Nor does Abbott’s second construction necessarily promote more equitable outcomes. Suppose, for example, that a career criminal sold drugs together with a first-time offender, and both brandished firearms in the process. The first-time offender, lacking a felon-in-possession conviction, would serve a seven-year § 924(c) sentence on top of a ten-year drug sentence, for a total of 17 years. But the career criminal’s ACCA sentence would preempt the § 924(c) sentence; he would serve only 15 years.
Abbott and Gould respond that sentencing judges may take account of such anomalies and order appropriate adjustments. We observe first that no correction or avoidance appears possible for the anomaly that, while § 924(c) “defines a standalone crime,” a § 924(c) sentence would be wiped out by a wholly separate and independent conviction. United States v. Easter, 553 F. 3d 519, 526 (CA7 2009) (per curiam) (“A determination of guilt that yields no sentence is not a judgment of conviction at all.”). We do

Question: What is the issue of the decision?
年. involuntary confession
数. habeas corpus
日. plea bargaining: the constitutionality of and/or the circumstances of its exercise
的. retroactivity (of newly announced or newly enacted constitutional or statutory rights)
月. search and seizure (other than as pertains to vehicles or Crime Control Act)
用. search and seizure, vehicles
成. search and seizure, Crime Control Act
名. contempt of court or congress
时. self-incrimination (other than as pertains to Miranda or immunity from prosecution)
件. Miranda warnings
一. self-incrimination, immunity from prosecution
请. right to counsel (cf. indigents appointment of counsel or inadequate representation)
中. cruel and unusual punishment, death penalty (cf. extra legal jury influence, death penalty)
据. cruel and unusual punishment, non-death penalty (cf. liability, civil rights acts)
码. line-up
不. discovery and inspection (in the context of criminal litigation only, otherwise Freedom of Information Act and related federal or state statutes or regulations)
新. double jeopardy
文. ex post facto (state)
下. extra-legal jury influences: miscellaneous
分. extra-legal jury influences: prejudicial statements or evidence
入. extra-legal jury influences: contact with jurors outside courtroom
人. extra-legal jury influences: jury instructions (not necessarily in criminal cases)
功. extra-legal jury influences: voir dire (not necessarily a criminal case)
上. extra-legal jury influences: prison garb or appearance
户. extra-legal jury influences: jurors and death penalty (cf. cruel and unusual punishment)
为. extra-legal jury influences: pretrial publicity
间. confrontation (right to confront accuser, call and cross-examine witnesses)
号. subconstitutional fair procedure: confession of error
取. subconstitutional fair procedure: conspiracy (cf. Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure: conspiracy)
回. subconstitutional fair procedure: entrapment
在. subconstitutional fair procedure: exhaustion of remedies
页. subconstitutional fair procedure: fugitive from justice
字. subconstitutional fair procedure: presentation, admissibility, or sufficiency of evidence (not necessarily a criminal case)
有. subconstitutional fair procedure: stay of execution
个. subconstitutional fair procedure: timeliness
作. subconstitutional fair procedure: miscellaneous
示. Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure
出. statutory construction of criminal laws: assault
是. statutory construction of criminal laws: bank robbery
失. statutory construction of criminal laws: conspiracy (cf. subconstitutional fair procedure: conspiracy)
表. statutory construction of criminal laws: escape from custody
除. statutory construction of criminal laws: false statements (cf. statutory construction of criminal laws: perjury)
加. statutory construction of criminal laws: financial (other than in fraud or internal revenue)
败. statutory construction of criminal laws: firearms
生. statutory construction of criminal laws: fraud
信. statutory construction of criminal laws: gambling
类. statutory construction of criminal laws: Hobbs Act; i.e., 18 USC 1951
置. statutory construction of criminal laws: immigration (cf. immigration and naturalization)
理. statutory construction of criminal laws: internal revenue (cf. Federal Taxation)
本. statutory construction of criminal laws: Mann Act and related statutes
息. statutory construction of criminal laws: narcotics includes regulation and prohibition of alcohol
行. statutory construction of criminal laws: obstruction of justice
定. statutory construction of criminal laws: perjury (other than as pertains to statutory construction of criminal laws: false statements)
改. statutory construction of criminal laws: Travel Act, 18 USC 1952
市. statutory construction of criminal laws: war crimes
期. statutory construction of criminal laws: sentencing guidelines
以. statutory construction of criminal laws: miscellaneous
修. jury trial (right to, as distinct from extra-legal jury influences)
元. speedy trial
方. miscellaneous criminal procedure (cf. due process, prisoners' rights, comity: criminal procedure)
录. voting
区. Voting Rights Act of 1965, plus amendments
单. ballot access (of candidates and political parties)
位. desegregation (other than as pertains to school desegregation, employment discrimination, and affirmative action)
型. desegregation, schools
法. employment discrimination: on basis of race, age, religion, illegitimacy, national origin, or working conditions.
县. affirmative action
存. slavery or indenture
品. sit-in demonstrations (protests against racial discrimination in places of public accommodation)
前. reapportionment: other than plans governed by the Voting Rights Act
称. debtors' rights
注. deportation (cf. immigration and naturalization)
值. employability of aliens (cf. immigration and naturalization)
输. sex discrimination (excluding sex discrimination in employment)
建. sex discrimination in employment (cf. sex discrimination)
能. Indians (other than pertains to state jurisdiction over)
大. Indians, state jurisdiction over
例. juveniles (cf. rights of illegitimates)
度. poverty law, constitutional
始. poverty law, statutory: welfare benefits, typically under some Social Security Act provision.
到. illegitimates, rights of (cf. juveniles): typically inheritance and survivor's benefits, and paternity suits
面. handicapped, rights of: under Rehabilitation, Americans with Disabilities Act, and related statutes
载. residency requirements: durational, plus discrimination against nonresidents
点. military: draftee, or person subject to induction
密. military: active duty
动. military: veteran
果. immigration and naturalization: permanent residence
图. immigration and naturalization: citizenship
提. immigration and naturalization: loss of citizenship, denaturalization
发. immigration and naturalization: access to public education
式. immigration and naturalization: welfare benefits
国. immigration and naturalization: miscellaneous
登. indigents: appointment of counsel (cf. right to counsel)
错. indigents: inadequate representation by counsel (cf. right to counsel)
者. indigents: payment of fine
认. indigents: costs or filing fees
误. indigents: U.S. Supreme Court docketing fee
接. indigents: transcript
关. indigents: assistance of psychiatrist
重. indigents: miscellaneous
第. liability, civil rights acts (cf. liability, governmental and liability, nongovernmental; cruel and unusual punishment, non-death penalty)
地. miscellaneous civil rights (cf. comity: civil rights)
如. First Amendment, miscellaneous (cf. comity: First Amendment)
设. commercial speech, excluding attorneys
目. libel, defamation: defamation of public officials and public and private persons
开. libel, privacy: true and false light invasions of privacy
事. legislative investigations: concerning internal security only
可. federal or state internal security legislation: Smith, Internal Security, and related federal statutes
要. loyalty oath or non-Communist affidavit (other than bar applicants, government employees, political party, or teacher)
代. loyalty oath: bar applicants (cf. admission to bar, state or federal or U.S. Supreme Court)
小. loyalty oath: government employees
选. loyalty oath: political party
标. loyalty oath: teachers
明. security risks: denial of benefits or dismissal of employees for reasons other than failure to meet loyalty oath requirements
编. conscientious objectors (cf. military draftee or military active duty) to military service
求. campaign spending (cf. governmental corruption):
列. protest demonstrations (other than as pertains to sit-in demonstrations): demonstrations and other forms of protest based on First Amendment guarantees
网. free exercise of religion
万. establishment of religion (other than as pertains to parochiaid:)
最. parochiaid: government aid to religious schools, or religious requirements in public schools
器. obscenity, state (cf. comity: privacy): including the regulation of sexually explicit material under the 21st Amendment
所. obscenity, federal
内. due process: miscellaneous (cf. loyalty oath), the residual code
体. due process: hearing or notice (other than as pertains to government employees or prisoners' rights)
通. due process: hearing, government employees
务. due process: prisoners' rights and defendants' rights
此. due process: impartial decision maker
商. due process: jurisdiction (jurisdiction over non-resident litigants)
序. due process: takings clause, or other non-constitutional governmental taking of property
化. privacy (cf. libel, comity: privacy)
消. abortion: including contraceptives
否. right to die
保. Freedom of Information Act and related federal or state statutes or regulations
使. attorneys' and governmental employees' or officials' fees or compensation or licenses
次. commercial speech, attorneys (cf. commercial speech)
机. admission to a state or federal bar, disbarment, and attorney discipline (cf. loyalty oath: bar applicants)
对. admission to, or disbarment from, Bar of the U.S. Supreme Court
量. arbitration (in the context of labor-management or employer-employee relations) (cf. arbitration)
查. union antitrust: legality of anticompetitive union activity
部. union or closed shop: includes agency shop litigation
性. Fair Labor Standards Act
和. Occupational Safety and Health Act
更. union-union member dispute (except as pertains to union or closed shop)
后. labor-management disputes: bargaining
证. labor-management disputes: employee discharge
题. labor-management disputes: distribution of union literature
确. labor-management disputes: representative election
格. labor-management disputes: antistrike injunction
了. labor-management disputes: jurisdictional dispute
于. labor-management disputes: right to organize
金. labor-management disputes: picketing
公. labor-management disputes: secondary activity
午. labor-management disputes: no-strike clause
円. labor-management disputes: union representatives
片. labor-management disputes: union trust funds (cf. ERISA)
空. labor-management disputes: working conditions
态. labor-management disputes: miscellaneous dispute
管. miscellaneous union
主. antitrust (except in the context of mergers and union antitrust)
天. mergers
自. bankruptcy (except in the context of priority of federal fiscal claims)
我. sufficiency of evidence: typically in the context of a jury's determination of compensation for injury or death
全. election of remedies: legal remedies available to injured persons or things
今. liability, governmental: tort or contract actions by or against government or governmental officials other than defense of criminal actions brought under a civil rights action.
来. liability, other than as in sufficiency of evidence, election of remedies, punitive damages
正. liability, punitive damages
说. Employee Retirement Income Security Act (cf. union trust funds)
意. state or local government tax
送. state and territorial land claims
容. state or local government regulation, especially of business (cf. federal pre-emption of state court jurisdiction, federal pre-emption of state legislation or regulation)
已. federal or state regulation of securities
结. natural resources - environmental protection (cf. national supremacy: natural resources, national supremacy: pollution)
会. corruption, governmental or governmental regulation of other than as in campaign spending
段. zoning: constitutionality of such ordinances, or restrictions on owners' or lessors' use of real property
计. arbitration (other than as pertains to labor-management or employer-employee relations (cf. union arbitration)
源. federal or state consumer protection: typically under the Truth in Lending; Food, Drug and Cosmetic; and Consumer Protection Credit Acts
色. patents and copyrights: patent
時. patents and copyrights: copyright
交. patents and copyrights: trademark
系. patents and copyrights: patentability of computer processes
过. federal or state regulation of transportation regulation: railroad
电. federal and some few state regulations of transportation regulation: boat
询. federal and some few state regulation of transportation regulation:truck, or motor carrier
符. federal and some few state regulation of transportation regulation: pipeline (cf. federal public utilities regulation: gas pipeline)
未. federal and some few state regulation of transportation regulation: airline
程. federal and some few state regulation of public utilities regulation: electric power
常. federal and some few state regulation of public utilities regulation: nuclear power
条. federal and some few state regulation of public utilities regulation: oil producer
当. federal and some few state regulation of public utilities regulation: gas producer
情. federal and some few state regulation of public utilities regulation: gas pipeline (cf. federal transportation regulation: pipeline)
口. federal and some few state regulation of public utilities regulation: radio and television (cf. cable television)
合. federal and some few state regulation of public utilities regulation: cable television (cf. radio and television)
车. federal and some few state regulations of public utilities regulation: telephone or telegraph company
实. miscellaneous economic regulation
组. comity: civil rights
版. comity: criminal procedure
周. comity: First Amendment
址. comity: habeas corpus
记. comity: military
二. comity: obscenity
同. comity: privacy
业. comity: miscellaneous
权. comity primarily removal cases, civil procedure (cf. comity, criminal and First Amendment); deference to foreign judicial tribunals
其. assessment of costs or damages: as part of a court order
进. Federal Rules of Civil Procedure including Supreme Court Rules, application of the Federal Rules of Evidence, Federal Rules of Appellate Procedure in civil litigation, Circuit Court Rules, and state rules and admiralty rules
试. judicial review of administrative agency's or administrative official's actions and procedures
验. mootness (cf. standing to sue: live dispute)
料. venue
传. no merits: writ improvidently granted
述. no merits: dismissed or affirmed for want of a substantial or properly presented federal question, or a nonsuit
集. no merits: dismissed or affirmed for want of jurisdiction (cf. judicial administration: Supreme Court jurisdiction or authority on appeal from federal district courts or courts of appeals)
多. no merits: adequate non-federal grounds for decision
无. no merits: remand to determine basis of state or federal court decision (cf. judicial administration: state law)
员. no merits: miscellaneous
报. standing to sue: adversary parties
他. standing to sue: direct injury
無. standing to sue: legal injury
服. standing to sue: personal injury
线. standing to sue: justiciable question
这. standing to sue: live dispute
制. standing to sue: parens patriae standing
将. standing to sue: statutory standing
处. standing to sue: private or implied cause of action
高. standing to sue: taxpayer's suit
子. standing to sue: miscellaneous
道. judicial administration: jurisdiction or authority of federal district courts or territorial courts
章. judicial administration: jurisdiction or authority of federal courts of appeals
手. judicial administration: Supreme Court jurisdiction or authority on appeal or writ of error, from federal district courts or courts of appeals (cf. 753)
库. judicial administration: Supreme Court jurisdiction or authority on appeal or writ of error, from highest state court
三. judicial administration: jurisdiction or authority of the Court of Claims
从. judicial administration: Supreme Court's original jurisdiction
支. judicial administration: review of non-final order
家. judicial administration: change in state law (cf. no merits: remand to determine basis of state court decision)
长. judicial administration: federal question (cf. no merits: dismissed for want of a substantial or properly presented federal question)
付. judicial administration: ancillary or pendent jurisdiction
秒. judicial administration: extraordinary relief (e.g., mandamus, injunction)
路. judicial administration: certification (cf. objection to reason for denial of certiorari or appeal)
完. judicial administration: resolution of circuit conflict, or conflict between or among other courts
象. judicial administration: objection to reason for denial of certiorari or appeal
则. judicial administration: collateral estoppel or res judicata
现. judicial administration: interpleader
京. judicial administration: untimely filing
转. judicial administration: Act of State doctrine
辑. judicial administration: miscellaneous
限. Supreme Court's certiorari, writ of error, or appeals jurisdiction
力. miscellaneous judicial power, especially diversity jurisdiction
学. federal-state ownership dispute (cf. Submerged Lands Act)
外. federal pre-emption of state court jurisdiction
调. federal pre-emption of state legislation or regulation. cf. state regulation of business. rarely involves union activity. Does not involve constitutional interpretation unless the Court says it does.
项. Submerged Lands Act (cf. federal-state ownership dispute)
北. national supremacy: commodities
工. national supremacy: intergovernmental tax immunity
笑. national supremacy: marital and family relationships and property, including obligation of child support
监. national supremacy: natural resources (cf. natural resources - environmental protection)
任. national supremacy: pollution, air or water (cf. natural resources - environmental protection)
相. national supremacy: public utilities (cf. federal public utilities regulation)
微. national supremacy: state tax (cf. state tax)
册. national supremacy: miscellaneous
联. miscellaneous federalism
平. boundary dispute between states
增. non-real property dispute between states
听. miscellaneous interstate relations conflict
解. incorporation of foreign territories
等. federal taxation, typically under provisions of the Internal Revenue Code
得. federal taxation of gifts, personal, business, or professional expenses
收. priority of federal fiscal claims: over those of the states or private entities
安. miscellaneous federal taxation (cf. national supremacy: state tax)
价. legislative veto
藏. executive authority vis-a-vis congress or the states
命. miscellaneous
应. real property
看. personal property
索. contracts
资. evidence
产. civil procedure
串. torts
布. wills and trusts
原. commercial transactions
Answer:

Answer: 息