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UNITED STATES v. MORRISON

Opinion of the Court

animus based on the victim’s gender.” § 13981(d)(1).
It
also provides that the term “crime of violence” includes any

“(A) . . . act or series of acts that would constitute
a felony against the person or that would constitute a
felony against property if the conduct presents a serious
risk of physical injury to another, and that would come
within the meaning of State or Federal offenses de-
scribed in section 16 of Title 18, whether or not those
acts have actually resulted in criminal charges, prosecu-
tion, or conviction and whether or not those acts were
committed in the special maritime, territorial, or prison
jurisdiction of the United States; and

“(B) includes an act or series of acts that would con-
stitute a felony described in subparagraph (A) but for
the relationship between the person who takes such
action and the individual against whom such action is
taken.”

§ 13981(d)(2).

Further clarifying the broad scope of § 13981’s civil rem-
edy, subsection (e)(2) states that “[n]othing in this section
requires a prior criminal complaint, prosecution, or convic-
tion to establish the elements of a cause of action under sub-
section (c) of this section.” And subsection (e)(3) provides a
§ 13981 litigant with a choice of forums: Federal and state
courts “shall have concurrent jurisdiction” over complaints
brought under the section.

Although the foregoing language of § 13981 covers a wide
swath of criminal conduct, Congress placed some limita-
tions on the section’s federal civil remedy. Subsection (e)(1)
states that “[n]othing in this section entitles a person to a
cause of action under subsection (c) of this section for random
acts of violence unrelated to gender or for acts that cannot
be demonstrated, by a preponderance of the evidence, to be
motivated by gender.” Subsection (e)(4) further states that
§ 13981 shall not be construed “to confer on the courts of the
United States jurisdiction over any State law claim seeking