Document ID: ./input/supremecourt_opinions/opinions/23pdf/23-5572_l6hn.pdf
Page Number: 42

14 

FISCHER v. UNITED STATES 

BARRETT, J., dissenting 

C 

The  Court  concludes  with  an  appeal  to  consequences: 
Construing (c)(2) broadly would “expos[e] activists and lob-
byists alike to decades in prison.”  Ante, at 14.  This fear is 
overstated. 

To begin with, the Court ignores that (c)(2) requires proof
that  a  defendant  acted  “corruptly.”    The  meaning  of  this 
term is unsettled, but all of its possible definitions limit the 
scope of liability.  On one proposed interpretation, a defend-
ant acts corruptly by “ ‘us[ing] unlawful means, or act[ing] 
with an unlawful purpose, or both.’ ”  United States v. Rob-
ertson, 103 F. 4th 1, 8 (CADC 2023) (approving jury instruc-
tions for (c)(2)).  On another, a defendant acts “corruptly” if
he “act[s] ‘with an intent to procure an unlawful benefit ei-
ther for himself or for some other person.’ ”  64 F. 4th, at 352 
(Walker, J., concurring in part and concurring in judgment) 
(quoting  Marinello,  584  U. S.,  at  21;  alterations  omitted).
Under either, the “corruptly” element should screen out in-
nocent activists and lobbyists who engage in lawful activity.
And  if  not,  those  defendants  can  bring  as-applied  First 
Amendment challenges.

The  Court  also  emphasizes  (c)(2)’s  20-year  maximum
penalty.  Ante,  at  14–15.    But  it  simultaneously  “glosses 
over the absence of any prescribed minimum.”  Yates, 574 
U. S., at 569 (KAGAN, J., dissenting).  “Congress presuma-
bly  enacts  laws  with  high  maximums  and  no  minimums 
when it thinks the prohibited conduct may run the gamut
from major to minor.”  Ibid.  Indeed, given the breadth of 
its terms, (c)(2) naturally encompasses actions that range
in severity.  Congress presumably trusted District Courts
to  impose  sentences  commensurate  with  the  defendant’s
particular conduct. 

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There is no getting around it: Section 1512(c)(2) is an ex-
pansive statute.  Yet Congress, not this Court, weighs the