Opinion of the Court

subject to any statute of limitations. See Guaranty Trust Co., 304 U. S., at 132. Absent congressional action changing this rule, it remains the law, and the text of § 2415(a) betrays no intent to change this rule as it applies to administrative proceedings.

In the final analysis, while we appreciate petitioners' arguments, they are insufficient to overcome the plain meaning of the statutory text. We therefore hold that the 6-year statute of limitations in § 2415(a) applies only to court actions and not to the administrative proceedings involved in this

For these reasons, the judgment of the Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit is affirmed.

It is so ordered.

THE CHIEF JUSTICE and JUSTICE BREYER took no part in the consideration or decision of this case.

Syllabus

UNITED STATES v. RESENDIZ-PONCE

CERTIORARI TO THE UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE NINTH CIRCUIT

No. 05-998. Argued October 10, 2006-Decided January 9, 2007 Respondent, a Mexican citizen, was charged with violating 8 U. S. C. § 1326(a) by attempting to reenter the United States after having been deported. The District Court denied his motion to have the indictment dismissed because it did not allege a specific overt act that he committed in seeking reentry. In reversing, the Ninth Circuit reasoned that the indictment's omission of an overt act was a fatal flaw not subject to harmless-error review.

Held: Respondent's indictment was not defective, and, thus, this Court need not reach the harmless-error issue. While the Government does not dispute that respondent cannot be guilty of attempted reentry under § 1326(a) unless he committed an overt act qualifying as a substantial step toward completing his goal or that "[a]n indictment must set forth each element of the crime that it charges," Almendarez-Torres v. United States, 523 U. S. 224, 228, it contends that the instant indictment implicitly alleged that respondent engaged in the necessary overt act by alleging that he "attempted" to enter the country. This Court agrees. Not only does "attempt" as used in common parlance connote action rather than mere intent, but, more importantly, as used in the law for centuries, it encompasses both the overt act and intent elements. Thus, an indictment alleging attempted reentry under § 1326(a) need not specifically allege a particular overt act or any other "component par[t]" of the offense. See Hamling v. United States, 418 U. S. 87, 117. It was enough for the indictment to point to the relevant criminal statute and allege that respondent "intentionally attempted to enter the United States at or near San Luis . . . Arizona" "[o]n or about June 1, 2003." App. 8. An indictment has two constitutional requirements: "[F]irst, [it must] contai[n] the elements of the offense charged and fairly infor[m] a defendant of the charge against which he must defend, and, second, [it must] enabl[e] him to plead an acquittal or conviction in bar of future prosecutions for the same offense." Hamling, 418 U. S., at 117. Here, the use of the word "attempt," coupled with the specification of the time and place of the alleged reentry, satisfied both. Respondent's argument that the indictment would have been sufficient only if it alleged any of three overt acts performed during his attempted reentry-that he walked into an inspection area; that he presented a misleading identifi

Opinion of the Court

cation card; or that he lied to the inspector-is rejected. Respondent is correct that some crimes must be charged with greater specificity than an indictment parroting a federal criminal statute's language, see Russell v. United States, 369 U. S. 749, but the Russell Court's reasoning suggests that there was no infirmity in the present indictment, see id., at 764, 762, and respondent's indictment complied with Federal Rule of Criminal Procedure 7(c)(1), which provides that an indictment "must be a plain, concise, and definite written statement of the essential facts constituting the offense charged." Pp. 106-111.

425 F.3d 729, reversed and remanded.

STEVENS, J., delivered the opinion of the Court, in which ROBERTS, C. J., and KENNEDY, SOUTER, THOMAS, GINSBURG, BREYER, and ALITO, JJ., joined. SCALIA, J., filed a dissenting opinion, post, p. 111.

Deputy Solicitor General Dreeben argued the cause for the United States. With him on the briefs were Solicitor General Clement, Assistant Attorney General Fisher, Kannon K. Shanmugam, and Nina Goodman.

Atmore Baggot, by appointment of the Court, 547 U. S. 1161, argued the cause and filed a brief for respondent.*

JUSTICE STEVENS delivered the opinion of the Court.

A jury convicted respondent Juan Resendiz-Ponce, a Mexican citizen, of illegally attempting to reenter the United States. Because the indictment failed to allege a specific overt act that he committed in seeking reentry, the Court of Appeals set aside his conviction and remanded for dismissal of the indictment. We granted the Government's petition for certiorari to answer the question whether the omission of an element of a criminal offense from a federal indictment can constitute harmless error. 547 U. S. 1069 (2006).

Although the Government expressly declined to “seek review of the court of appeals' threshold holdings that the com

*Briefs of amici curiae urging affirmance were filed for the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers by Jeffrey T. Green and Pamela Harris; for the National Association of Federal Defenders by Steven F. Hubachek, Henry J. Bemporad, and Frances H. Pratt; and for Paul Hardy by Herbert V. Larson, Jr., and Denise LeBoeuf.

Opinion of the Court

mission of an overt act was an element of the offense of attempted unlawful reentry and that the indictment failed to allege that element," Pet. for Cert. 9, n. 3, "[i]t is not the habit of the Court to decide questions of a constitutional nature unless absolutely necessary to a decision of the case," Ashwander v. TVA, 297 U. S. 288, 347 (1936) (Brandeis, J., concurring) (quoting Burton v. United States, 196 U. S. 283, 295 (1905)). For that reason, after oral argument we ordered the parties to file supplemental briefs directed to the question whether respondent's indictment was in fact defective. We conclude that it was not and therefore reverse without reaching the harmless-error issue.

I

Respondent was deported twice, once in 1988 and again in 2002, before his attempted reentry on June 1, 2003. On that day, respondent walked up to a port of entry and displayed a photo identification of his cousin to the border agent. Respondent told the agent that he was a legal resident and that he was traveling to Calexico, California. Because he did not resemble his cousin, respondent was questioned, taken into custody, and ultimately charged with a violation of 8 U. S. C. § 1326(a).1 The indictment alleged:

1 Title 8 U. S. C. § 1326 provides, in part:

"Reentry of removed aliens

"(a) In general

"Subject to subsection (b) of this section, any alien who

"(1) has been denied admission, excluded, deported, or removed or has departed the United States while an order of exclusion, deportation, or removal is outstanding, and thereafter

"(2) enters, attempts to enter, or is at any time found in, the United States, unless (A) prior to his reembarkation at a place outside the United States or his application for admission from foreign contiguous territory, the Attorney General has expressly consented to such alien's reapplying for admission; or (B) with respect to an alien previously denied admission and removed, unless such alien shall establish that he was not required to obtain such advance consent under this chapter or any prior Act,

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"On or about June 1, 2003, JUAN RESENDIZPONCE, an alien, knowingly and intentionally attempted to enter the United States of America at or near San Luis in the District of Arizona, after having been previously denied admission, excluded, deported, and removed from the United States at or near Nogales, Arizona, on or about October 15, 2002, and not having obtained the express consent of the Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security to reapply for admission.

"In violation of Title 8, United States Code, Sections 1326(a) and enhanced by (b)(2)." App. 8.

Respondent moved to dismiss the indictment, contending that it "fail[ed] to allege an essential element, an overt act, or to state the essential facts of such overt act." Id., at 12. The District Court denied the motion and, after the jury found him guilty, sentenced respondent to a 63-month term of imprisonment.

The Ninth Circuit reversed, reasoning that an indictment's omission of "an essential element of the offense is a fatal flaw not subject to mere harmless error analysis." 425 F. 3d 729, 732 (2005). In the court's view, respondent's indictment was fatally flawed because it nowhere alleged "any specific overt act that is a substantial step" toward the completion of the unlawful reentry.2 Id., at 733. The panel majority explained:

"shall be fined under title 18, or imprisoned not more than 2 years, or both."

2 In the opinion of the Ninth Circuit, the five elements of the offense of attempted reentry in violation of § 1326(a) are:

"(1) [T]he defendant had the purpose, i. e., conscious desire, to reenter the United States without the express consent of the Attorney General; (2) the defendant committed an overt act that was a substantial step towards reentering without that consent; (3) the defendant was not a citizen of the United States; (4) the defendant had previously been lawfully denied admission, excluded, deported or removed from the United States; and