Opinion ID: 709226
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 5

Heading: RICO Interstate Commerce Instruction

Text: 47 Relying on United States v. Robertson, --- U.S. ----, 115 S.Ct. 1732, 131 L.Ed.2d 714 (1995) and United States v. Lopez, --- U.S. ----, 115 S.Ct. 1624, 131 L.Ed.2d 626 (1995), Maloney submits that the district court erred when it instructed the jury that the government must prove that the Circuit Court of Cook County engaged in interstate commerce or its activity affected interstate commerce.... interstate commerce is affected if you find that the Circuit Court of Cook County has any impact, regardless of how small or indirect, on the movement of any money, goods, services, or persons from one state to another. According to Maloney, this instruction was erroneous in two respects. First, it impermissibly broadened the indictment by allowing the jury to find that the Circuit Court either engaged in or affected interstate commerce, while the indictment only charged that the Circuit Court affected interstate commerce. Second, the jury should have been charged with finding that the court substantially affects interstate commerce. 48 Maloney, however, did not raise these objections before the district court in accordance with Fed.R.Crim.P. 30. 15 This court has often held that we may review for plain error any instructions which were not challenged below. See United States v. Boyles, 57 F.3d 535, 541 (7th Cir.1995); United States v. Waldemer, 50 F.3d 1379, 1386 (7th Cir.), cert. denied, --- U.S. ----, 115 S.Ct. 2598, 132 L.Ed.2d 845 (1995); United States v. Baker, 40 F.3d 154, 161-62 (7th Cir.1994), cert. denied, --- U.S. ----, 115 S.Ct. 1383, 131 L.Ed.2d 237 (1995); United States v. Mounts, 35 F.3d 1208, 1221 (7th Cir.1994), cert. denied, --- U.S. ----, 115 S.Ct. 1366, 131 L.Ed.2d 222, (1995); United States v. Knapp, 25 F.3d 451, 454-55 (7th Cir.), cert. denied, --- U.S. ----, 115 S.Ct. 493, 130 L.Ed.2d 404 (1994). Some panels of the court, however, relying upon the distinction between forfeiture and waiver outlined in United States v. Olano, 507 U.S. 725, ----, 113 S.Ct. 1770, 1777, 123 L.Ed.2d 508 (1993), have held that the failure to object to an instruction constitutes a waiver of that objection and thus plain error review does not apply. See United States v. Espino, 32 F.3d 253, 258-59 (7th Cir.1994); United States v. Lakich, 23 F.3d 1203, 1207-08 (7th Cir.1994). Even these latter cases, though, perhaps out of an abundance of caution, have nonetheless discussed the objection under the plain error standard. Thus, we will review Maloney's objections for plain error. 49 Maloney's contention that the engages in language in the instruction impermissibly departed from the affects language in the indictment is not even error, let alone plain error. It is well settled that the power to regulate matters affecting interstate commerce is broader than the right to regulate interstate commerce itself. See Russell v. United States, 471 U.S. 858, 859 n. 4, 105 S.Ct. 2455, 2456 n. 4, 85 L.Ed.2d 829 (1985); Scarborough v. United States, 431 U.S. 563, 571-72, 97 S.Ct. 1963, 1967-68, 52 L.Ed.2d 582 (1977). Thus, the charge that the activities of the Circuit Court of Cook County affected interstate commerce is presumed to include evidence that it directly participated in interstate commerce as well as evidence that its intrastate activities had an effect on interstate commerce. There was no impermissible broadening of the indictment. United States v. Miller, 471 U.S. 130, 138, 105 S.Ct. 1811, 1816, 85 L.Ed.2d 99 (1985). The government presented uncontested evidence that the Circuit Court directly engaged in the ... acquisition of goods and services in interstate commerce, through its purchase of law books and computer equipment and thus there was sufficient justification to introduce the instruction. Robertson, --- U.S. at ----, 115 S.Ct. at 1733, (quoting United States v. American Building Maintenance Indust., 422 U.S. 271, 283, 95 S.Ct. 2150, 2157-58, 45 L.Ed.2d 177 (1975)). 50 Maloney's second argument is equally without merit. Lopez 's substantially affecting standard describes the requirement that, viewed in the aggregate, statutes concern activities which substantially affect interstate commerce. Id., --- U.S. at ----, 115 S.Ct. at 1631. Where a general regulatory statute bears a substantial relation to commerce, the de minimis character of individual instances arising under that statute is of no consequence. Id. at ----, 115 S.Ct. at 1629, (quoting Maryland v. Wirtz, 392 U.S. 183, 197 n. 27, 88 S.Ct. 2017, 2024 n. 27, 20 L.Ed.2d 1020 (1968)). Unlike RICO, the statute in Lopez contain[ed] no jurisdictional element which would ensure, through case-by-case inquiry, that the firearm possession in question affects interstate commerce. Id. It is by no means plain that individual activities regulated by RICO must each substantially affect interstate commerce. See Robertson, --- U.S. at ----, 115 S.Ct. at 1733 (questioning whether or not, under the affecting commerce provision in RICO, the activities of the enterprise would have to meet the requirement of substantially affecting interstate commerce); United States v. Stillo, 57 F.3d 553, 559 n. 2 (7th Cir.), cert. denied, --- U.S. ----, 116 S.Ct. 383, 133 L.Ed.2d 306 (1995). Furthermore, even if the district court's instruction was error, Maloney made no attempt to establish that the error was prejudicial, i.e., that it affected the outcome of the District Court proceedings. Olano, 507 U.S. at ----, 113 S.Ct. at 1778. Maloney failed to allege that the government's evidence would not have survived an instruction requiring the jury to find that the Circuit Court substantially affected interstate commerce. Thus, we have no basis for finding plain error.