Whether Tennessee aggravated burglary qualifies as a generic burglary under the Armed Career Criminal Act

QUESTION PRESENTED The Armed Career Criminal Act’s mandatory penalty can be triggered by prior convictions for “burglary.” 18 U.S.C. § 924(e), (e)(2(B)(ii). The term “burglary” carries the meaning that the majority of jurisdictions gave it in 1986 when the ACCA was enacted. United States v. Stitt, 1389 S. Ct. 399, 405 (2018). At that time, the majority rule was that burglary requires an “entry” either by any part of the person or, if not the person, by an instrument used to commit the felony inside the building or structure. Under this majority rule, an “entry” does not occur when just the instrument has crossed the threshold and was not itself used or intended to be used to commit the felony. Tennessee law, in contrast, defines “entry” to include the use of an instrument merely to try to make entry—thereby criminalizing mere attempted burglary as “burglary.” The question presented is whether Tennessee aggravated burglary qualifies as a generic burglary, or whether instead the state’s unusual definition of “entry,” because it encompasses mere attempted burglary, disqualifies aggravated burglary as an ACCA predicate. ii