| Yates v. United States | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Argued November 5, 2014 Decided February 25, 2015 | |
| Full case name | John L. Yates, Petitioner v. United States |
| Docket no. | 13-7451 |
| Citations | 574 U.S. 528 (more) 135 S. Ct. 1074; 191 L. Ed. 2d 64 |
| Case history | |
| Prior | United 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 | |
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| Case opinions | |
| Plurality | Ginsburg, joined by Roberts, Breyer, Sotomayor |
| Concurrence | Alito (in judgment) |
| Dissent | Kagan, 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]