Court Opinion

ID: 9643772
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-22 20:40:21.883987+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T12:28:01.249093
License: Public Domain

L. HAND, Circuit Judge
(dissenting).
I could wish that it was commonly thought more morally shameful than it is to evade taxes; but it is certainly true that people who in private affairs are altogether right-minded, see nothing more than a venial peccadillo in smuggling, or in escaping excises on liquor. Indeed, in some parts of the country “moonshining” .has for a century and more been a patriarchal right; and surely it is quite beyond measure to compare its disrepute with defrauding an individual. There is always the danger in construing this statute that we shall substitute logic for fact and'deport a man for what people ought consistently to think of him, rather than for what they do; moreover, it is always embarrassing to appear to condone any deliberate violation of law. But, as we said in United States ex rel. Iorio v. Day, 2 Cir., 34 F.2d 920, we must try to appraise the moral repugnance of the ordinary man towards the conduct in question ; not what an ideal citizen would feel. That decision, in my opinion, rules this situation and the order should be reversed.