Violent-Crime Definition Gets High-Court Hearing in Gun Case (1)

The Justice Department pressed the Supreme Court to reverse an appeals-court ruling that upends mandatory-minimum gun sentences in a case that appeared to divide the justices.

The question considered by the Supreme Court Tuesday is whether attempted federal robbery counts as a “crime of violence” under a law that exposes defendants to stiff prison terms.

The answer seemed to elude the court during the argument session that prompted hypotheticals ranging from the academic to the cinematic, with Chief Justice John Roberts asking what charges Woody Allen’s character in “Take the Money and Run” would face for handing the note “I ...