Yates v. United States (2015)

Yates v. United States
Argued November 5, 2014
Decided February 25, 2015
Full case nameJohn L. Yates, Petitioner v. United States
Docket no.13-7451
Citations574 U.S. 528 (more)
135 S. Ct. 1074; 191 L. Ed. 2d 64
Case history
PriorUnited States v. Yates, 733 F.3d 1059 (11th Cir. 2013)
Holding
For purposes of 18 U.S.C. § 1519, a "tangible object" is one used to preserve or record information and does not include, in this case, fish.
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
PluralityGinsburg, joined by Roberts, Breyer, Sotomayor
ConcurrenceAlito (in judgment)
DissentKagan, joined by Scalia, Kennedy, Thomas
Laws applied
18 U.S.C. § 1519; Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002

Yates v. United States, 574 U.S. 528 (2015), was a United States Supreme Court case in which the Court construed 18 U.S.C. § 1519, a provision added to the federal criminal code by the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, to criminalize the destruction or concealment of "any record, document, or tangible object" to obstruct a federal investigation.[1] By a 5-to-4 vote, the Court stated that the term "tangible object" as used in this section means an object used to record or preserve information, and that this did not include fish.[2]

  1. ^ 18 U.S.C. § 1519.
  2. ^ Yates v. United States, No. 13-7451, 574 U.S. 528 (2015).