Burrage v. United States

Burrage v. United States
Supreme Court of the United States
Argued November 12, 2013 Decided January 27, 2014
Full case name	Marcus Andrew Burrage, Petitioner v. United States
Docket no.	12-7515
Citations	571 U.S. 204 (more) 134 S. Ct. 881; 187 L. Ed. 2d 715; 2014 U.S. LEXIS 797; 82 U.S.L.W. 4076
Argument	Oral argument
Case history
Prior	687 F.3d 1015 (reversed and remanded)
Holding
At least when the use of a drug distributed by the defendant is not an independently sufficient cause of the victim's death or serious bodily injury, a defendant cannot be liable for penalty enhancement under the penalty enhancement provision of the Controlled Substance Act unless such use is a but-for cause of the death or injury. Eighth Circuit reversed and remanded.
Court membership
Chief Justice John Roberts Associate Justices Antonin Scalia · Anthony Kennedy Clarence Thomas · Ruth Bader Ginsburg Stephen Breyer · Samuel Alito Sonia Sotomayor · Elena Kagan
Case opinions
Majority	Scalia, joined by Roberts, Kennedy, Thomas, Breyer, Kagan; Alito (all but Part III–B)
Concurrence	Ginsburg (in judgment), joined by Sotomayor
Laws applied
Controlled Substances Act

Burrage v. United States, 571 U.S. 204 (2014), was a United States Supreme Court case in which a unanimous Court held that a defendant cannot be liable for penalty enhancement under the penalty enhancement provision of the Controlled Substances Act unless such use is a but-for cause of the death or injury, at least when the use of a drug distributed by the defendant is not an independently sufficient cause of the victim's death or serious bodily injury.^[1][2][3]