Page:Denard Stokeling v. United States.pdf/28

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Cite as: 586 U. S. ___ (2019)

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Sotomayor, J., dissenting

Taylor, 495 U. S., at 582, is entirely consistent with paring back the statute’s sweep with regard to robbery specifically. I may wish to expand the contents of my refrigerator, but that does not mean that I will buy more of every single item that is currently in it the next time that I go shopping. Here, the ACCA–with its (new, generalized) elements clause, its (augmented) enumerated clause, and (until recently) its highly capacious residual clause–undeniably expanded the precursor statute’s bare enumeration of robbery and burglary, regardless of how many robbery statutes qualify as predicates specifically under the elements clause.^[1]

Fourth, even assuming that Congress wanted robbery to remain largely encompassed by the ACCA despite deleting the word from the precursor statute, that intent is fully consistent with properly applying Johnson here. The majority, by focusing on the elements clause, ignores the residual clause, which–until it was declared unconstitutional in 2015–provided a home for many crimes regardless of whether they included an element of violent “physical force.”^[2] Hewing to a proper reading of Johnson, in
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↑ Of course, whether Congress wished to pull back the throttle with regard to robbery across the whole ACCA is less certain. (Recall that Congress also enacted the capacious residual clause.) But that is why the statutory history cannot tell us what the majority claims that it can about the elements clause specifically. Instead, the more reliable guide is the new text that Congress enacted to replace the old. Cf. West Virginia Univ. Hospitals, Inc. v. Casey, 499 U. S. 83, 98 (1991) (“The best evidence of [Congress’] purpose is the statutory text adopted by both Houses of Congress and submitted to the President”). And here, Congress omitted generic robbery altogether and made the “violent felony” clause at issue require “physical force.” See supra, at 2, 4–5, 11.
↑ In fact, the case in which this Court ruled that its decision striking down the residual clause applied retroactively on collateral review centered on a Florida robbery conviction under §812.13(1). See Welch v. United States, 578 U. S. ___, ___–___ (2016) (slip op., at 4–5). The Eleventh Circuit, reviewing the defendant’s ACCA enhancement on direct appeal, had ruled that Florida robbery (including when, under

[1] Of course, whether Congress wished to pull back the throttle with regard to robbery across the whole ACCA is less certain. (Recall that Congress also enacted the capacious residual clause.) But that is why the statutory history cannot tell us what the majority claims that it can about the elements clause specifically. Instead, the more reliable guide is the new text that Congress enacted to replace the old. Cf. West Virginia Univ. Hospitals, Inc. v. Casey, 499 U. S. 83, 98 (1991) (“The best evidence of [Congress’] purpose is the statutory text adopted by both Houses of Congress and submitted to the President”). And here, Congress omitted generic robbery altogether and made the “violent felony” clause at issue require “physical force.” See supra, at 2, 4–5, 11.

[Sotomayor2-2] In fact, the case in which this Court ruled that its decision striking down the residual clause applied retroactively on collateral review centered on a Florida robbery conviction under §812.13(1). See Welch v. United States, 578 U. S. ___, ___–___ (2016) (slip op., at 4–5). The Eleventh Circuit, reviewing the defendant’s ACCA enhancement on direct appeal, had ruled that Florida robbery (including when, under

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