Abuelhawa v. United States
| Abuelhawa v. United States | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Argued March 4, 2009 Decided May 26, 2009 | |
| Full case name | Salman Khade Abuelhawa, petitioner v. United States |
| Docket no. | 08-192 |
| Citations | 556 U.S. 816 (more) |
| Case history | |
| Prior | petitioner convicted 1:07-cr-00018-LMB (E.D. Va., 2007); affirmed 523 F.3d 415 (4th Cir.); reversed and remanded U.S. |
| 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). | |
| Court membership | |
| |
| Case opinion | |
| Majority | Souter, joined by unanimous |
| Laws applied | |
| 21 USC §843(b),[1] §844(a)[2] | |
Abuelhawa v. United States, 556 U.S. 816 (2009), was a United States Supreme Court case in which the Court held 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's intent, since it conflicted with the classification of the drug sale itself as a misdemeanor.
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