Oral Argument Re-Listen: Rico v. United States | Disappearing Defedant Dilemma

Rico v. United States | Case No. 24-1056 | Argument: 11/3/25 | Decided: 3/25/26

Link to Docket: Here.

Question Presented: Whether the Sentencing Reform Act authorizes courts to automatically extend a defendant's supervised release term when the defendant absconds.

Overview: Federal courts split on whether a defendant's disappearance during supervised release automatically pushes back the expiration date — a question affecting thousands of federal defendants nationwide.

Posture: Ninth Circuit affirmed district court's use of post-expiration drug offense as supervised release violation.

Holding: The Sentencing Reform Act of 1984 does not authorize courts to automatically extend a defendant's term of supervised release simply because the defendant runs away. The law sets firm end dates for supervision. Congress must amend the law before courts can extend deadlines if a defendant runs away.

Voting Breakdown: 8-1. Justice Gorsuch wrote the majority opinion, joined by Chief Justice Roberts and Justices Thomas, Sotomayor, Kagan, Kavanaugh, Barrett, and Jackson. Justice Alito filed a dissenting opinion.

Result: Reversed and remanded.

Link to Opinion: Here.

Majority Reasoning: (1) The Sentencing Reform Act sets firm start and end dates for supervised release and supplies no automatic extension rule if a defendant runs away (i.e. absconds); (2) Congress already equipped courts with specific tools to address absconders — revocation, re-imprisonment, and post-expiration revocation via warrant — making the omission of automatic extension intentional; (3) The Act's only true tolling rule pauses supervised release during incarceration of 30 or more consecutive days, and courts cannot invent a second one.

Separate Opinions:

Justice Alito (dissenting): The majority never needed to reach the tolling question. The district court could lawfully consider Rico's January 2022 drug offense as a Section 3553(a) sentencing factor — rendering any Guidelines-range error harmless. No error occurred.

Implications:

• Federal prosecutors and probation officers must now secure a warrant or summons before a supervised release term expires to preserve revocation authority over post-expiration violations.
• Defendants sentenced under the now-rejected Ninth and Fourth Circuit automatic-extension rule may challenge those sentences.
• Congress faces pressure to revisit the warrant-or-summons requirement in late-term abscondment cases.
• Courts nationwide now apply a single uniform rule: abscondment alone does not extend a supervised release term.

Oral Advocates:

• For Petitioner: Adam G. Unikowsky, Washington, D.C.
• For Respondent: Joshua K. Handell, Assistant to the Solicitor General, Department of Justice, Washington, D.C.

The Fine Print:

• 18 U.S.C. § 3624(e): "The term of supervised release commences on the day the person is released from imprisonment... A term of supervised release does not run during any period in which the person is imprisoned in connection with a conviction for a Federal, State, or local crime unless the imprisonment is for a period of less than 30 consecutive days."
• 18 U.S.C. § 3583(i): "The power of the court to revoke a term of supervised release for violation of a condition of supervised release, and to order the defendant to serve a term of imprisonment... extends beyond the expiration of the term of supervised release for any period reasonably necessary for the adjudication of matters arising before its expiration if, before its expiration, a warrant or summons has been issued on the basis of an allegation of such violation."

Primary Cases:

• Mont v. United States (2019): Section 3624(e)'s express terms suspend a defendant's supervised release clock during pre-trial state imprisonment — highlighting the absence of any comparable automatic extension rule for abscondment.
• United States v. Johnson (2000): Courts may not add a rule to the Sentencing Reform Act that Congress considered but chose not to enact.

Timestamps:

[00:00:00] Argument Overview

[00:00:37] Argument Begins

[00:00:45] Petitioner Opening Statement

[00:02:30] Petitioner Free for All Questions

[00:24:20] Petitioner Sequential Questions

[00:24:35] Respondent Opening Statement

[00:26:25] Respondent Free for All Questions

[00:52:15] Respondent Sequential Questions

[00:52:20] Petitioner Rebuttal