Court Opinion

ID: 9429088
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-02 23:25:37.767112+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:23:16.979250
License: Public Domain

Justice Rehnquist,
with whom Justice Brennan, Justice Stevens, and Justice O’Connor join, dissenting.
The Gun Control Act provides that any person “who has been convicted in any court of a crime punishable by imprisonment for a term exceeding one year” is ineligible for a federal license to ship, transport, or receive any firearm or ammunition in interstate commerce. 18 U. S. C. §§ 922(g) and (h). Thus, as the Court points out, “[ijf Kennison was not *123‘convicted’ in the first place . . . respondent should not be ineligible for licenses on the grounds asserted by the Bureau.” Ante, at 111. Contrary to the conclusion reached by the Court, I do not believe that Kennison was “convicted.” Accordingly, I dissent.
I agree with the Court that whether one has been convicted within the meaning of the Gun Control Act is a question of federal, rather than state, law. Ante, at 111-112. Congress did not, however, expressly define the term “conviction” in the Act. Where Congress has defined the term, the Court recognizes that it has given the term different meanings in different statutes. Ante, at 112, n. 6. In the Investment Company Act of 1940, Congress expressly provided that the term “convicted” includes “a verdict, judgment, or plea of guilty, or a finding of guilt on a plea of nolo contendere, if such verdict, judgment, plea, or finding has not been reversed, set aside, or withdrawn, whether or not sentence has been imposed.” 15 U. S. C. §80a-2(a)(10). The same definition was used in the Investment Advisers Act of 1940. 15 U. S. C. § 80b-2(a)(6). Congress used a more narrow definition in two sections of the Narcotic Addict Rehabilitation Act of 1966, providing that “‘[cjonviction’ and ‘convicted’ mean the final judgment on a verdict or finding of guilty, a plea of guilty, or a plea of nolo contendere, and do not include a final judgment which has been expunged by pardon, reversed, set aside, or otherwise rendered nugatory.” 18 U. S. C. § 4251(e); 28 U. S. C. § 2901(f). Finally, in the Federal Youth Corrections Act, Congress has provided that the term “‘conviction’ means the judgment on a verdict or finding of guilty, a plea of guilty, or a plea of nolo conten-dere.” 18 U. S. C. § 5006(g).
Thus at the most, Congress has required the entry of a formal judgment as the signpost of a “conviction.” At the least, Congress has required the acceptance of a plea. In this case, we have neither. The Court relies on Kercheval v. United States, 274 U. S. 220 (1927), and Boykin v. Alabama, 395 *124U. S. 238 (1969), for the proposition that “[i]n some circumstances, we have considered a guilty plea alone enough to constitute a ‘conviction.’” Ante, at 112. The Court concludes that in this case “we .. . have more,” because the state trial judge “noted” the plea and placed Kennison on probation. Ante, at 113. I cannot agree.
Even if Kercheval and Boykin would otherwise be relevant to our interpretation of the Gun Control Act, both cases spoke of an accepted guilty plea. Whatever a trial court does when it “notes” a plea, it is less, instead of more, than an acceptance of the plea which is preceded by an examination of the defendant to insure that the plea is voluntary.
Where the Iowa deferred judgment statute can be used, “[t]he trial court may, upon a plea of guilty [and] [wjith the consent of the defendant . . . defer judgment and place the defendant on probation.” Iowa Code §789A.l (1977) (emphasis added) (current version at Iowa Code §907.3 (1981)). Congress has never before considered such circumstances sufficient for a finding of a “conviction”; there is nothing in the Gun Control Act to infer that Congress has adopted such a standard now. It is likely that at the most Congress intended that a “conviction” be represented by a formal entry of judgment, or at the least an acceptance of a guilty plea. But in either case, such criteria are absent where, following a guilty plea, the Iowa deferred judgment statute is invoked.*

The Court points out that respondent acknowledged in oral argument that during the period of Kennison’s probation, respondent was disqualified for a license. Ante, at 114, n. 8. This disqualification, if it existed, however, would be based on the provision of the Gun Control Act applying to any person “who is under indictment,” 18 U. S. C. §§ 922(g) and (h), rather than on a “conviction.”