Source: https://www.chanrobles.com/usa/us_supremecourt/404/336/case.php
Timestamp: 2020-02-28 22:04:34
Document Index: 4392766

Matched Legal Cases: ['§ 922', '§ 1202', '§ 1202', '§ 2421', '§ 1952', '§ 1951', '§ 1231', '§ 1201', '§ 1084', '§ 842', '§ 1', '§ 77']

MARSHALL, J., delivered the opinion of the Court, in which DOUGLAS, BRENNAN (except for Part III), STEWART, and WHITE, JJ., joined. BRENNAN, J., filed a separate statement, post, p. 404 U. S. 351. BLACKMUN, J., filed a dissenting opinion, in which BURGER, C.J.,joined, post, p. 404 U. S. 351. chanrobles.com-red
The evidence showed that respondent, who had previously been convicted of a felony in New York State, possessed chanrobles.com-red
After his conviction, [Footnote 2] respondent unsuccessfully moved for arrest of judgment on two primary grounds: that the statute did not reach possession of a firearm not shown to have been "in commerce or affecting commerce," and that, if it did, Congress had overstepped its constitutional powers under the Commerce Clause. 308 F.Supp. 1385. The Court of Appeals reversed the conviction, being of the view that, if the Government's construction of the statute were accepted, there would be substantial doubt about the statute's constitutionality. 434 F.2d 1296. We granted certiorari to resolve a conflict among lower courts over the proper reach of the statute. [Footnote 3] We affirm the judgment of the court below, chanrobles.com-red
While the statute does not read well under either view, "the natural construction of the language" suggests that the clause "in commerce or affecting commerce" qualifies all three antecedents in the list. Porto Rico Railway, Light & Power Co. v. Mor, 253 U. S. 345, 253 U. S. 348 (1920). Since "in commerce or affecting commerce" undeniably chanrobles.com-red
In a more significant respect, however, the language of the statute does provide support for respondent's reading. Undeniably, the phrase "in commerce or affecting commerce" is part of the "transports" offense. But if that phrase applies only to "transports," the statute would have a curious reach. While permitting transportation of a firearm unless it is transported "in commerce or affecting commerce," the statute would prohibit all possessions of firearms, and both interstate and intrastate receipts. Since virtually all transportations, whether interstate or intrastate, involve an accompanying possession or receipt, it is odd indeed to argue that, on the one hand the statute reaches all possessions and chanrobles.com-red
Nevertheless, the Government argues that its reading is to be preferred because the defendant's narrower interpretation would make Title VII redundant with Title IV of the same Act. Title IV, inter alia, makes it a chanrobles.com-red
18 U.S.C. §§ 922(g) and (h). As Senator Long, the sponsor of Title VII, represented to Senator Dodd, the sponsor of Title IV, Title VII indeed does complement Title IV. 114 Cong.Rec. 14774; see also 114 Cong.Rec. 16286. Respondent's reading of Title VII is fully consistent with this view. First, although subsections of the two Titles do address their prohibitions to some of the same people, each statute also reaches substantial groups of people not reached by the other. [Footnote 9] Secondly, Title VII complements Title IV by punishing a broader class of behavior. Even under respondent's view, a Title VII offense is made out if the firearm was possessed or received "in commerce or affecting commerce"; however, Title IV apparently does not reach possessions or intrastate transactions at all, even those with an interstate commerce nexus, but is chanrobles.com-red
In addition, whatever reading is adopted, Title VII and Title IV are, in part, redundant. The interstate commerce requirement in Title VII minimally applies to transportation. Since Title IV also prohibits convicted criminals from transporting firearms in interstate commerce, the two Titles overlap under both readings. The Government's broader reading of Title VII does not eliminate the redundancy, but simply creates a larger area in which there is no overlap. While the Government would be on stronger ground if its reading were necessary to give Title VII some unique and independent thrust, this is not the case here. In any event, circumstances surrounding the passage of Title VII make plain that Title VII was not carefully molded to complement Title chanrobles.com-red
IV. Title VII was a last-minute Senate amendment to the Omnibus Crime Control and Safe Streets Act. The Amendment was hastily passed, with little discussion, no hearings, and no report. [Footnote 11] The notion that it was enacted to dovetail neatly with Title IV rests perhaps on a conception of the model legislative process; but we cannot pretend that all statutes are model statutes. While courts should interpret a statute with an eye to the surrounding statutory landscape and an ear for harmonizing potentially discordant provisions, these guiding principles are not substitutes for congressional lawmaking. In our view, no conclusion can be drawn from Title IV concerning the correct interpretation of Title VII. chanrobles.com-red
Other aspects of the meager legislative history, however, do provide some significant support for the Government's interpretation. On the Senate floor, Senator Long, who introduced § 1202, described various evils that prompted his statute. These evils included assassinations of public figures and threats to the operation of businesses significant enough in the aggregate to affect commerce. [Footnote 12] Such evils, we note, would be most thoroughly mitigated by forbidding every possession of any firearm by specified classes of especially risky people, regardless of whether the gun was possessed, received, or transported "in commerce or affecting commerce." In addition, specific remarks of the Senator can be read to state that the amendment reaches the mere possession of guns without any showing of an interstate commerce nexus. [Footnote 13] But Senator Long never specifically says that no connection with commerce need be shown in the individual case. And nothing in his statements explains why, if an interstate commerce nexus is irrelevant in individual cases, the phrase "in commerce or affecting commerce" is in the statute at all. [Footnote 14] But even if Senator chanrobles.com-red
Universal Camera Corp. v. NLRB, 340 U. S. 474, 340 U. S. 483 (151). Here, as in other cases, the various remarks by legislators "are sufficiently ambiguous insofar as this narrow issue is concerned . . . to invite mutually destructive dialectic," and not much more. chanrobles.com-red
@ 344 U. S. 221-222 (1952). This principle is founded on two policies that have long been part of our tradition. First,
McBoyle v. United States, 283 U. S. 25, 283 U. S. 27 (1931) (Holmes, J.). [Footnote 15] See also United States v. Cardiff, 344 U. S. 174 (1952). Second, because of the seriousness of criminal penalties, and because criminal punishment usually represents the moral condemnation of the community, legislatures, and not courts, should define criminal activity. This policy embodies "the instinctive distaste against men languishing in prison unless the lawmaker has clearly said they should." H. Friendly, Mr. Justice Frankfurter and the Reading of Statutes, in Benchmarks 196, 209 (1967). Thus, where there is ambiguity in a criminal statute, doubts are resolved in favor of the defendant. Here, we conclude that Congress has not "plainly and unmistakably," United States v. Gradwell, 243 U. S. 476, 243 U. S. 485 (1917), made it a federal crime for chanrobles.com-red
There is a second principle supporting today's result: unless Congress conveys its purpose clearly, it will not be deemed to have significantly changed the federal state balance. [Footnote 16] Congress has traditionally been reluctant to define as a federal crime conduct readily denounced as criminal by the States. [Footnote 17] This congressional policy is rooted in the same concepts of American federalism that have provided the basis for judge-made doctrines. See, e.g., Younger v. Harris, 401 U. S. 37 (1971). As this Court emphasized only last Term in Rewis v. United States, supra, we will not be quick to assume that Congress has meant to effect a significant change in the sensitive relation between federal and state criminal jurisdiction. In traditionally sensitive areas, such as legislation affecting the federal balance, the requirement of clear statement assures that the legislature has in fact, faced, and intended to bring into issue, the critical matters involved in the judicial decision. In Rewis, we declined to accept an expansive interpretation of the Travel Act. To do so, we said then, "would alter sensitive federal state relationships [and] could overextend limited federal police resources." While we noted there that "[i]t is not for us to weigh the merits of these factors," we went on to conclude that "the fact chanrobles.com-red
Having concluded that the commerce requirement in § 1202(a) must be read as part of the "possesses" and "receives" offenses, we add a final word about the nexus with interstate commerce that must be shown in individual cases. The Government can obviously meet its burden in a variety of ways. We note only some of these. For example, a person "possesses. . . in commerce or affecting commerce" if, at the time of the offense, the gun was moving interstate or on an interstate facility, or if the possession affects commerce. Significantly broader in reach, however, is the offense of "receiv[ing] . . . in commerce or affecting commerce," for we conclude that the Government meets its burden here if it demonstrates that the firearm received has previously traveled in interstate commerce. [Footnote 18] This is chanrobles.com-red
434 F.2d 1298. See, e.g., 18 U.S.C. § 2421 (prostitution); 18 U.S.C. § 1952 (Travel Act); 18 U.S.C. § 1951 (robbery and extortion); 18 U.S.C. § 1231 (strike-breaking); 18 U.S.C. § 1201 (kidnaping); 18 U.S.C. § 1084 (gambling); 18 U.S.C. § 842(i) (explosives); 15 U.S.C. § 1 et seq. (antitrust); 15 U.S.C. § 77e (securities fraud).
I cannot join the Court's opinion and judgment. Five of the six United States courts of appeals that have passed upon the issue presented by this case have decided it adversely to the position urged by the respondent here. United States v. Cabbler, 429 F.2d 577 (CA4 1970), cert. denied, 400 U.S. 901; United States v. Mullins, chanrobles.com-red
2. The meaning the Court implants on the statute is justified only by the addition and interposition of a comma after the word "transports." I perceive no warrant for this judicial transfiguration. chanrobles.com-red