Abuelhawa v. United States (Docket No. 08-192), was a decision by the United States Supreme Court holding that a defendant who used a cellphone for the misdemeanor purchase of cocaine could not be charged with a felony for using a "communication facility" to facilitate the distribution of an illegal drug under 21 U.S.C. § 843(b).

PropertyValue
dbpedia-owl:argueDate
  • March 4
dbpedia-owl:decideDate
  • May 26
dbpprop:abstract
  • Abuelhawa v. United States (Docket No. 08-192), was a decision by the United States Supreme Court holding that a defendant who used a cellphone for the misdemeanor purchase of cocaine could not be charged with a felony for using a "communication facility" to facilitate the distribution of an illegal drug under 21 U.S.C. § 843(b). In a unanimous opinion delivered by Justice Souter, the Court reasoned that the government's interpretation of "facilitate" exposed a first-time buyer using a phone "to punishment 12 times more severe than a purchase by a recidivist offender and 8 times more severe than the unauthorized possession of a drug used by rapists," and was clearly not in line with Congress' intent, since it conflicted with the classification of the drug sale itself as a misdemeanor.
dbpprop:arguedate
  • March 4
dbpprop:argueyear
  • 2009 (xsd:integer)
dbpprop:decidedate
  • May 26
dbpprop:decideyear
  • 2009 (xsd:integer)
dbpprop:fullname
  • Salman Khade Abuelhawa, petitioner v. United States
dbpprop:holding
  • A person who uses a cell phone to buy drugs solely for personal use (a misdemeanor) cannot be charged with the separate crime of using a phone to facilitate the sale of drugs (a felony).
dbpprop:joinmajority
  • unanimous court
dbpprop:lawsapplied
dbpprop:majority
  • Souter
dbpprop:prior
  • petitioner convicted 1:07-cr-00018-LMB (E.D. Va., 2007); affirmed 523 F.3d 415 (4th Cir.); reversed and remanded U.S.
dbpprop:reference
dbpprop:scotus
  • 2006-2009
dbpprop:uscProperty
  • 843(b)
  • 21 (xsd:integer)
dbpprop:wikiPageUsesTemplate
rdf:type
rdfs:comment
  • Abuelhawa v. United States (Docket No. 08-192), was a decision by the United States Supreme Court holding that a defendant who used a cellphone for the misdemeanor purchase of cocaine could not be charged with a felony for using a "communication facility" to facilitate the distribution of an illegal drug under 21 U.S.C. § 843(b).
rdfs:label
  • Abuelhawa v. United States
skos:subject
foaf:name
  • Salman Khade Abuelhawa, petitioner v. United States
foaf:page