On January 25, 2007, in the U.S District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia, Abuelhawa was indicted by grand jury on seven counts of violating 21 U.S. Code § 843, specifically charging Abuelhawa with "unlawfully, knowingly, and intentionally using a communications facility — a telephone — in committing, causing, and facilitating the.. distribution of cocaine."

Various of the counts were dismissed, but ultimately the district court sentenced Abuelhawa to 24 months probation and issued a $2,000 fine.

Interestingly, the appeal has no substantial discussion as to the issue which will eventually be taken up by the Supreme Court, with the only mention being that, "there is no dispute that Abuelhawa used a communication facility (a cell phone) to arrange the drug transactions".

The Supreme Court granted certiorari, and held oral arguments on March 4, 2009, and released its opinion on May 26, 2009.

In a unanimous opinion delivered by Justice Souter, the Court sided with Abuelhawa and reversed his conviction, and reasoned that the government's interpretation of "facilitate" exposed a first-time buyer using a phone "to punishment 12 times more severe than a purchase by a recidivist offender and 8 times more severe than the unauthorized possession of a drug used by rapists," and was clearly not in line with Congress's intent, since it conflicted with the classification of the drug sale itself as a misdemeanor.