Document ID: ./input/supremecourt_opinions/opinions/09pdf/09-166.pdf
Page Number: 1.0

Cite as:  558 U. S. ____ (2009) 

1 

Statement of STEVENS, J. 

SUPREME COURT OF THE UNITED STATES 

UNITED STATES v. JAMES FORD SEALE 

ON CERTIFIED QUESTION BY THE UNITED STATES COURT OF 
APPEALS FOR THE FIFTH CIRCUIT 

No. 09–166.  Decided November 2, 2009 

The  question  certified  by  the  United  States  Court  of

Appeals for the Fifth Circuit is dismissed. 

Statement  of  JUSTICE  STEVENS,  with  whom  JUSTICE 
SCALIA  joins,  respecting  the  dismissal  of  the  certified 
question.

This certificate presents us with a pure question of law 
that may well determine the outcome of a number of cases
of  ugly  racial  violence  remaining  from  the  1960s.  The 
question  is what  statute  of  limitations  applies  to  a  prose-
cution  under  18  U. S. C.  §1201  commenced  in  2007  for  a 
kidnaping offense that occurred in 1964. 

James Ford Seale was found guilty of violating §1201, a 
provision that does not include its own limitations period. 
Title 18 U. S. C. §3281 provides that “any offense punish-
able  by  death”  may  be  prosecuted  “at  any  time  without 
limitation,”  whereas  §3282(a)  imposes  a  5-year  period  of
limitations  for  all  other  offenses  “[e]xcept  as  otherwise 
expressly  provided  by  law.”  In  1964  a  violation  of  §1201
was  a  capital  offense  when  the  victim  was  harmed,  and 
since 1994 a violation of §1201 has been a capital offense
when  the  kidnaping  results  in  the  loss  of  life.    But  for 
more than two decades in between, Seale’s crime was not 
punishable by death. 

Several  developments  accounted  for  this.    In  1968  this 
Court  held  that  the  death  penalty  provision  in  the  old 
§1201  was  unconstitutional  because  it  applied  “only  to
those defendants who assert the right to contest their guilt
before  a  jury,”  United  States  v.  Jackson,  390  U. S.  570, 
581, and in 1972 we cast significant doubt on the constitu-