Opinion ID: 758747
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Constitutionality of Statutes

Text: 15 Woodfin argues that under United States v. Lopez, 514 U.S. 549, 115 S.Ct. 1624, 131 L.Ed.2d 626 (1995), 18 U.S.C. §§ 1955 and 1956, the gambling and money laundering statutes, exceed Congress's authority to legislate pursuant to the Commerce Clause, U.S. CONST. art. I, § 8, cl. 3. He specifically claims that in the absence of a substantial effect on interstate commerce, Congress cannot seek to regulate an area of criminal enterprise. 16 The Lopez decision struck down 18 U.S.C. § 922(q)--the federal law prohibiting firearm possession on or near school grounds--on the grounds that such a law fell outside of Congress's commerce power. In so holding, the Court set forth certain criteria to determine the propriety of a federal criminal statute under the Commerce Clause. 17 As to the challenge to § 1955, this court has upheld that law in the face of a Lopez challenge. United States v. Wall, 92 F.3d 1444 (6th Cir.1996). The defendants' challenge to § 1956 is equally unavailing. Although the Sixth Circuit has never had occasion to address an attack on the money laundering statute under Lopez, other circuits have found the statute constitutional as a proper exercise of the commerce power. See United States v. Westbrook, 119 F.3d 1176, 1191-92 (5th Cir.1997), cert. denied, --- U.S. ----, 118 S.Ct. 1060, 140 L.Ed.2d 121 (1998); United States v. Leslie, 103 F.3d 1093, 1100 (2d Cir.1997), cert. denied, --- U.S. ----, 117 S.Ct. 1713, 137 L.Ed.2d 837 (1997); United States v. Griffith, 85 F.3d 284, 286-288 (7th Cir.1996), cert. denied, --- U.S. ----, 117 S.Ct. 272, 136 L.Ed.2d 195 (1996); United States v. Baker, 82 F.3d 273, 275-276 (8th Cir.), cert. denied, --- U.S. ----, 117 S.Ct. 538, 136 L.Ed.2d 423 (1996); United States v. Grey, 56 F.3d 1219, 1223-25 (10th Cir.1995) (but reversing conviction on grounds that § 1956 was improperly applied to the defendant). Perhaps the most pertinent lesson of these decisions--at least for present purposes--is that the use of federally insured banks and/or the transport of monies across state borders to facilitate the money laundering create a sufficient nexus to interstate commerce to allow application of § 1956. Griffith, 85 F.3d at 287-288; Baker, 82 F.3d at 275-276. This connection alone is enough to place § 1956 into Lopez 's second category, i.e., into the range of statutes governing the instrumentalities of interstate commerce ... even though the threat may come only from intrastate activities. Id. at 275 (citing Lopez, 115 S.Ct. at 1629-30). Where a statute regulates the instrumentalities of interstate commerce, the law need not address conduct having a substantial effect on interstate commerce in order to survive a constitutional challenge. Rather, the mere character of the activities covered under the statute make them properly the subject of federal regulation. Lopez, 115 S.Ct. at 1629. 18 Here, the monies derived from the illegal activities not only were deposited in a federally insured bank, but were transported from Tennessee to Mississippi for deposit. Accordingly, § 1956 can permissibly apply simply by virtue of the nature of the transactions in which the defendants engaged in their efforts to conceal their illegal activities.