Neder v. United States

Neder v. United States
Supreme Court of the United States
Argued February 23, 1999 Decided June 10, 1999
Full case name	Ellis E. Neder, Jr., Petitioner v. United States
Citations	527 U.S. 1 (more) 119 S.Ct. 1827, 144 L.Ed.2d 35
Argument	Oral argument
Case history
Prior	United States v. Neder, 136 F.3d 1459 (11th Cir. 1998), certiorari granted, 525 U. S. 928 (1998)
Subsequent	Convictions affirmed on remand, United States v. Neder, 197 F.3d 1122 (11th Cir. 1999)
Holding
1. The harmless-error rule of Chapman v. California applies to a jury instruction that omits an element of an offense. 2. Materiality is an element of a "scheme or artifice to defraud" under the federal mail fraud, wire fraud, and bank fraud statutes.
Court membership
Chief Justice William Rehnquist Associate Justices John P. Stevens · Sandra Day O'Connor Antonin Scalia · Anthony Kennedy David Souter · Clarence Thomas Ruth Bader Ginsburg · Stephen Breyer
Case opinions
Majority	Rehnquist, joined by unanimous (Parts I and III); O'Connor, Kennedy, Thomas, Breyer (Parts II and IV)
Concurrence	Stevens (in part and in judgment)
Concur/dissent	Scalia, joined by Souter, Ginsburg
Laws applied
Chapman v. California

Neder v. United States, 527 U.S. 1 (1999), was a United States Supreme Court case decided in 1999. The Court held that the omission of an element of an offense with which a defendant is charged and convicted should be evaluated under the "harmless error" standard that the Court previously described in the 1967 case Chapman v. California. The Court also held that, in order to sustain a conviction under the federal mail, wire, and bank fraud statutes, the government must prove materiality of the underlying conduct.

External links

• Text of Neder v. United States is available from: Cornell Findlaw Google Scholar Justia Oyez (oral argument audio)