Though it may have seemed obvious from a commonsense standpoint, a federal appeals court has clarified that assaulting a federal officer counts as a crime of violence under the law that determines whether a convicted felon is a career offender.

A panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit ruled in United States v. Bullock that assaulting, resisting or impeding certain officers or employees of the federal government (18 U.S.C. Section 111(b)) is categorically a crime of violence under Section 4B1.1 of the United States Sentencing Guidelines.