Document ID: ./input/supremecourt_opinions/opinions/20pdf/19-783_k53l.pdf
Page Number: 36

12 

VAN BUREN v. UNITED STATES 

THOMAS, J., dissenting 

believes he is allowed to use the computer a certain way be-
cause,  for  example,  that  kind  of  behavior  is  common  and 
tolerated.  Cf.  Restatement  (Second)  of  Contracts  §223(2) 
(1979)  (discussing  how  an  established  “course  of  dealing” 
can  erase  written  limitations  in  certain  contractual  con-
texts).  The Act also concerns only “obtain[ing] or alter[ing] 
information  in  the  computer,”  §1030(e)(6)  (emphasis
added), not using the Internet to check sports scores stored 
in some distant server (i.e., a different computer).  The ma-
jority does not deny that many provisions plausibly narrow 
the focus of this statute.  It simply faults the government
for not arguing the point more forcefully.  Ante, at 18–19.  I 
would not give so much weight to the hypothetical concern 
that the Government might start charging innocuous con-
duct  and  that  courts  might  interpret  the  statute  to  cover 
that conduct. 

The majority’s argument also proves too much.  Much of 
the Federal Code criminalizes common activity.  Absent ag-
gravating factors, the penalty for violating this Act is a mis-
demeanor.  §1030(c)(2)(A).  This Act thus penalizes mine-
run  offenders  about  as  harshly  as  federal  law  punishes  a
person  who  removes  a  single  grain  of  sand  from  the  Na-
tional Mall, 40 U. S. C. §8103(b); breaks a lamp in a Gov-
ernment building, ibid.; or permits a horse to eat grass on
federal land, 18 U. S. C. §1857.  The number of federal laws 
and regulations that trigger criminal penalties may be as 
high as several hundred thousand.  Fields &  Emshwiller, 
Many  Failed  Efforts  To  Count  Nation’s  Federal  Criminal 
Laws,  Wall-Street  Journal  (July  23,  2011).*    It  is  under-
standable to be uncomfortable with so much conduct being
criminalized, but that discomfort does not give us authority 
to alter statutes. 

—————— 

* www.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702304319804576389601079

728920.html.