Forum
U.S. Supreme Court
Case Status
Decided
Docket Number
Term
2014 Term
Oral Argument Date
November 05, 2014
Lower Court Opinion
U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit
Questions Presented
Whether Mr. Yates was deprived of fair notice that destruction of fish would fall within the purview of 18 U.S.C. § 1519, which makes it a crime for anyone who “knowingly alters, destroys, mutilates, conceals, covers up, falsifies, or makes a false entry in any record, document, or tangible object” with the intent to impede or obstruct an investigation, where the term “tangible object” is ambiguous and undefined in the statute, and unlike the nouns accompanying “tangible object” in section 1519, possesses no record-keeping, documentary, or informational content or purpose.
Case Updates
U.S. Supreme Court rejects over-broad reading of Sarbanes-Oxley (SOX) "anti-shredding" provision
February 25, 2015
The Court issued a 5-4 judgment that the Sarbanes-Oxley Act’s criminal prohibition against the intentional destruction of “any tangible object” does not reach a commercial fisherman’s destruction of three undersized grouper that he caught, but instead criminalizes only the intentional destruction of tangible objects that are used to record or preserve information, such as computer hard drives or other devices used to record electronic information.
Case Documents
- Cert. Petition -- Yates v. United States (U.S. Supreme Court).pdf
- Cause of Action Amicus Brief -- Yates v. United States (U.S. Supreme Court).pdf
- NACDL Amicus Brief -- Yates v. United States (U.S. Supreme Court).pdf
- Brief for the United States in Opposition -- Yates v. United States (U.S. Supreme Court).pdf
- Reply to the US Brief in Opposition -- Yates v. United States (U.S. Supreme Court).pdf
- Brief of Petitioner -- Yates v. United States (U.S. Supreme Court).pdf
- U.S. Chamber, et al. Amicus Brief on the Merits -- Yates v. United States (U.S. Supreme Court).pdf
- NACDL Amicus Brief on Merits -- Yates v. United States (U.S. Supreme Court).pdf
- Law Professors Amicus Brief -- Yates v. United States (U.S. Supreme Court).pdf
- CATO Amicus Brief -- Yates v. United States (U.S. Supreme Court).pdf
- WLF Amicus Brief -- Yates v. United States (U.S. Supreme Court).pdf
- Cause of Action, et al. Amicus Brief -- Yates v. United States (U.S. Supreme Court).pdf
- NFIB Amicus Brief -- Yates v. United States (U.S. Supreme Court).pdf
- Honorable Michael Oxley Amicus Brief -- Yates v. United States (U.S. Supreme Court).pdf
- Pacific Legal Amicus Brief -- Yates v. United States (U.S. Supreme Court).pdf
- Brief for United States -- Yates v. United States (U.S. Supreme Court).pdf
- Reply Brief of Petitioner -- Yates v. United States (U.S. Supreme Court).pdf
- Argument Transcript -- Yates v. United States (U.S. Supreme Court).pdf
- Opinion -- Yates v. United States (U.S. Supreme Court).pdf