United States v. Dixon, 509 U.S. 688, 30 (1993)

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Cite as: 509 U. S. 688 (1993)

Opinion of Rehnquist, C. J.

on the facts that must be proved under the particular indictment at issue—an indictment being the closest analogue to the court orders in this case. See, e. g., Grady, 495 U. S., at 528 (Scalia, J., dissenting) ("Th[e] test focuses on the statutory elements of the two crimes with which a defendant has been charged, not on the proof that is offered or relied upon to secure a conviction"); Albernaz v. United States, 450 U. S. 333, 338 (1981) (" '[T]he Court's application of the test focuses on the statutory elements of the offense' " (quoting Iannelli v. United States, 420 U. S. 770, 785, n. 17 (1975))); United States v. Woodward, 469 U. S. 105, 108 (1985) (per curiam) (looking to the statutory elements of the offense in applying Blockburger). By focusing on the facts needed to show a violation of the specific court orders involved in this case, and not on the generic elements of the crime of contempt of court, Justice Scalia's double jeopardy analysis bears a striking resemblance to that found in Grady—not what one would expect in an opinion that overrules Grady.

Close inspection of the crimes at issue in Harris reveals, moreover, that our decision in that case was not a departure from Blockburger's focus on the statutory elements of the offenses charged. In Harris, we held that a conviction for felony murder based on a killing in the course of an armed robbery foreclosed a subsequent prosecution for robbery with a firearm. Though the felony-murder statute in Harris did not require proof of armed robbery, it did include as an element proof that the defendant was engaged in the commission of some felony. Harris v. State, 555 P. 2d 76, 80 (Okla. Crim. App. 1976). We construed this generic reference to some felony as incorporating the statutory elements of the various felonies upon which a felony-murder conviction could rest. Cf. Whalen v. United States, 445 U. S. 684, 694 (1980). The criminal contempt provision involved here, by contrast, contains no such generic reference which by definition incorporates the statutory elements of assault or drug distribution.

717

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