Whether the categorical approach applies in determining whether an offense is a 'crime of violence' supporting conviction under 18 U.S.C. § 924(c)

QUESTION PRESENTED This Court has consistently held that a “categorical” approach applies when determining whether an offense qualifies as a predicate supporting greater punishment under various federal criminal provisions. Under this approach, qualifying predicates are identified strictly by reference to the offense’s statutory definition, rather than to the particular facts of a defendant’s case. The lower federal courts have at times deviated from the categorical approach, prompting this Court’s intervention to reaffirm it. See, e.g., Descamps v. United States, 570 U.S. 254 (2013). A major deviation occurred here, where the Third Circuit—in conflict with ten other courts of appeals—declined to apply the categorical approach in determining whether an offense qualifies as a predicate “crime of violence” supporting conviction under 18 U.S.C. § 924(c). The question presented is: Whether the categorical approach applies in determining whether an offense is a “crime of violence” supporting conviction under 18 U.S.C. § 924(c), a question that has split the circuits 10-1. i