Federal Court Rulings on Criminal Cases

Court decisions collected here are federal criminal rulings, written from the opinion, from the Supreme Court and the courts of appeals. A holding is the rule that decided that case. It does not decide a different record.

What a court-decision note covers

A note names the court, the date, and the question the court actually answered, and it links the opinion. The archive runs to sentencing, appeal waivers, restitution, and plea terms, plus a few older explainers that carry their own dates.

Who a ruling can affect

A Supreme Court decision binds every federal court. A published court of appeals decision binds district courts in that circuit. Another circuit's decision can be cited, and a district judge may decline to follow it. The Tenth Circuit note on United States v. Williams is unpublished and is not binding precedent. The person it can matter to is a defendant, someone in Bureau of Prisons custody, or someone on supervised release, when a similar question was preserved. A loved one can read the opinion. We need the client's permission before we discuss the case.

How to read a holding

Match the court and the date to the case you have. Then ask whether the issue was preserved, whether a plea waiver covers it, and whether a later Supreme Court decision changed the rule.

Preservation: in Williams, the Tenth Circuit would not review a complaint about the judge's explanation of an above-Guidelines sentence, because the only objection after the sentence was a general one.

Waivers: in United States v. Roberts, the Tenth Circuit enforced an appeal waiver, and 21 months spent in custody on a federal writ were not credited. The words of the plea agreement did that work.

Later Supreme Court decisions: in January 2026, Ellingburg v. United States held that restitution under the Mandatory Victims Restitution Act is criminal punishment for purposes of the Ex Post Facto Clause. 607 U.S. 163. In October 2026, the Ninth Circuit in United States v. Youngblood held that United States v. Hemani did not revive a facial attack on 18 U.S.C. § 922(g)(3), and that an as-applied argument made in a single sentence was waived.

A denial of review is not a holding of the Court. On October 13, 2026, the Supreme Court declined to hear Herrera-Salazar v. United States. Justice Sotomayor, joined by Justice Gorsuch, wrote a statement respecting that denial. The statement warns that a second prosecution for being "found in" the United States under 8 U.S.C. § 1326, where the person had been ordered not to leave the district, raises serious problems under the Double Jeopardy Clause. The Court did not decide the question.

Notes in this archive

The notes above are linked by name. The archive also includes older writing: an overview of federal fraud statutes and notable cases from 2016 to 2019, a look at federal cybercrime from the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act through identity theft, and a survey of sex-offender registration decisions from Smith v. Doe onward. Each page carries its own date. Read them with the statute they cite. A statute or Guidelines change is filed separately, and the appeal guide explains the 14-day notice.

Keep the opinion, the judgment, the notice of appeal if one was filed, and the plea agreement if it contains a waiver. For a § 2255 question, the date the conviction became final starts the ordinary one-year period (28 U.S.C. § 2255(f)).

How a consultation works

If a new opinion looks close to a federal judgment or a pending appeal, book a one-hour meeting with Brandon Sample. The meeting is paid. Send the form and we will contact you to set a time. The opinion and the judgment, or the docket number, are enough to start.

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