718
Opinion of Rehnquist, C. J.
Unless we are to accept the extraordinary view that the three-paragraph per curiam in Harris was intended to overrule sub silentio our previous decisions that looked to the statutory elements of the offenses charged in applying Blockburger, we are bound to conclude, as does Justice Scalia, see ante, at 698, that the ratio decidendi of our Harris decision was that the two crimes there were akin to greater and lesser included offenses. The crimes at issue here, however, cannot be viewed as greater and lesser included offenses, either intuitively or logically. A crime such as possession with intent to distribute cocaine is a serious felony that cannot easily be conceived of as a lesser included offense of criminal contempt, a relatively petty offense as applied to the conduct in this case. See D. C. Code Ann. § 33-541(a)(2)(A) (Supp. 1992) (the maximum sentence for possession with intent to distribute cocaine is 15 years in prison). Indeed, to say that criminal contempt is an aggravated form of that offense defies common sense. Even courts that have found a double jeopardy bar in cases resembling this one have appreciated how counterintuitive that notion is. E. g., United States v. Haggerty, 528 F. Supp. 1286, 1297 (Colo. 1981).
But there is a more fundamental reason why the offenses in this case are not analogous to greater and lesser included offenses. A lesser included offense is defined as one that is "necessarily included" within the statutory elements of another offense. See Fed. Rule Crim. Proc. 31(c); Schmuck v. United States, 489 U. S. 705, 716-717 (1989). Taking the facts of Harris as an example, a defendant who commits armed robbery necessarily has satisfied one of the statutory elements of felony murder. The same cannot be said, of course, about this case: A defendant who is guilty of possession with intent to distribute cocaine or of assault has not necessarily satisfied any statutory element of criminal contempt. Nor, for that matter, can it be said that a defendant who is held in criminal contempt has necessarily satisfied any
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