Page:United States v. Victor J. Stitt, II.pdf/9

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Cite as: 586 U. S. ___ (2018)
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Opinion of the Court

places with the “apparent potential for regular occupancy”).

Respondents make several additional arguments. Respondent Stitt argues that the Tennessee statute is too broad even under the Government’s definition of generic burglary. That is so, Stitt contends, because the statute covers the burglary of a “structure appurtenant to or connected with” a covered structure or vehicle, a provision that Stitt reads to include the burglary of even ordinary vehicles that are plugged in or otherwise appurtenant to covered structures. Tenn. Code Ann. §39–14–401(1)(C). Stitt’s interpretation, however, ignores that the “appurtenant to” provision extends only to “structure[s],” not to the separate statutory term “vehicle[s].” Ibid. We therefore disagree with Stitt’s argument that the “appurtenant to” provision sweeps more broadly than generic burglary, as defined in Taylor, 495 U. S., at 598.

Respondents also point out that in Taylor, Mathis, and other cases, we said that burglary of certain nontypical structures and vehicles fell outside the scope of the federal Act’s statutory word “burglary.” See, e. g., Taylor, 495 U. S., at 599 (noting that some States “define burglary more broadly” than generic burglary by, for example, “including places, such as automobiles and vending machines, other than buildings”). And they argue that the vehicles covered here are analogous to the nontypical structures and vehicles to which the Court referred in those cases. Our examination of those cases, however, convinces us that we did not decide in either case the question now before us.

In Taylor, for example, we referred to a Missouri breaking and entering statute that among other things criminalized breaking and entering “any boat or vessel, or railroad car.” Ibid. (citing Mo. Rev. Stat. §560.070 (1969); emphasis added). We did say that that particular provision was beyond the scope of the federal Act. But the statute used the word “any”; it referred to ordinary boats