Opinion ID: 482850
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: Government Arguments

Text: 36 Although we have set forth our view in some detail, the government has made two arguments that deserve further comment. First, while acknowledging Baldwin's holding that the word citizen in Sec. 241 must be given the same meaning it has in the Fourteenth Amendment, the government, citing Plyler v. Doe, 457 U.S. 202, 102 S.Ct. 2382, 72 L.Ed.2d 786 (1982), points to the fact that the Fourteenth Amendment's protections have been applied to aliens since the Baldwin decision. Therefore, the government argues, under Baldwin itself the word citizen must now include aliens. A close reading of Plyler reveals that the government's reliance is misplaced. That case held essentially that an alien is a person as that term is used in the equal protection clause of the Fourteenth Amendment. 457 U.S. at 210-16, 102 S.Ct. at 942-45. It did not address the meaning of the word citizen. In fact, both the equal protection and due process clauses, which in the recent past have been held to protect the rights of aliens present in this country, use the term person. U.S. Const. amend. XIV, Sec. 1. But, at the same time, the citizenship and the privileges and immunities clauses relied on by the Supreme Court in Baldwin, 120 U.S. at 690, 7 S.Ct. at 661, define and use the term citizen. In short, the government's argument simply fails to recognize that the Fourteenth Amendment itself distinguishes between persons and citizens. 37 Further, even were the strength of this distinction less apparent, a time-honored tenet of statutory construction directs that a court called upon to apply an ambiguous penal statute should not construe it in favor of sanctions, but strictly in favor of lenity. See, e.g., Dowling, 473 U.S. at 213-14, 105 S.Ct. at 3132; United States v. Bass, 404 U.S. 336, 347, 92 S.Ct. 515, 522, 30 L.Ed.2d 488 (1971); United States v. Campos-Serrano, 404 U.S. 293, 299, 92 S.Ct. 471, 475, 30 L.Ed.2d 457 (1971) (The principle of strict construction of criminal statutes demands that some determinate limits be established based upon the actual words of the statute.); United States v. Margiotta, 688 F.2d 108, 120 (2d Cir.1982), cert. denied, 461 U.S. 913, 103 S.Ct. 1891, 77 L.Ed.2d 282 (1983). 38 Finally, the government urges as a matter of policy that aliens who serve as federal witnesses should be entitled to reciprocal federal protection. But the protections of Sec. 241 do not extend to non-citizens, however salutary such an extension may be. The problem--being statutory, and not constitutional--has been and presently is still subject only to congressional remedy. Consequently, while as a matter of policy such a change may be desirable, it is for Congress and not this Court to effectuate. See Baldwin, 120 U.S. at 692, 7 S.Ct. at 662. Thus, for the reasons discussed, United States citizenship is a necessary element of proof under 18 U.S.C. Sec. 241.