Court Opinion

ID: 9469576
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-05 02:44:13.660319+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:41:27.544823
License: Public Domain

LIVELY, Circuit Judge,
dissenting.
Though I agree with the majority that it was unwise for the government to charge “The Office of the Governor” of Tennessee as an “enterprise” under RICO, I also believe it was unauthorized. There are three reasons for reaching this conclusion. In the first place, there is no language in the text of the statute which indicates that governmental units were intended to be treated as enterprises for purposes of RICO prosecutions. It is a requirement that there be an enterprise engaged in interstate commerce and that someone employed by or associated with the enterprise conduct its affairs through a pattern of racketeering activity. 18 U.S.C. § 1962(c) (1976). RICO contains its own definition of “enterprise”; it includes “any individual, partnership, corporation, association, or other legal entity, and any union or group of individuals associated in fact although not a legal entity.” 18 U.S.C. § 1961(4) (1976). While it is true that the only modifier of “enterprise” in the RICO definition is the word “any,” I do not believe that either the dictionary definition or the statutory definition of the word can reasonably be read to include governmental units. Though the Supreme Court found the statutory definition unambiguous when required to determine whether illegitimate as well as legitimate enterprises are included, United States v. Turkette, 452 U.S. 576, 580-81, 101 S.Ct. 2524, 2527-28, 69 L.Ed.2d 246 (1981), this finding is not conclusive with respect to the question presently under review. The distinction between legitimate and illegitimate enterprises is quite different from that between purely private activity and that of a governmental unit. In Turkette the question was whether Congress intended to reach a particular kind of business enterprise — one that was wholly illegitimate. Here we must determine whether an entirely different kind of activity was intended to be included. I would require a clear indication of congressional intent before including a governmental unit within the definition of “enterprise.”
Further, reading into the language of the Act a construction which includes governmental units within the definition of enterprise creates an internal inconsistency which should be avoided. Some of the civil remedies provided in RICO could not have been intended by Congress to apply to a unit of state government. It is unthinkable that Congress would have intended to authorize a court to “prohibit any person from engaging in the same type of behavior1 as the enterprise engaged in ...” when that enterprise is the office of the chief executive of a state, or to order “dissolution or reorganization” thereof. 18 U.S.C. § 1964(a). It is true that the Supreme Court in Turkette stated that the inapplicability to a particular illegitimate enterprise of one or more of the civil remedies contained in RICO does not lead to the conclusion that existence of such civil remedies limits the scope of the criminal provisions of RICO. 452 U.S. at 585, 101 S.Ct. at 2530. Nevertheless, the fact that Congress included such drastic remedies in RICO without any limitation indicates at least that the treatment of a governmental unit as an enterprise was not considered. In the absence of a clearly stated intent to treat governmental units as enterprises for the purpose of RICO prosecutions, the inclusion of civil remedies which would be beyond the constitutional authority of a federal court to invoke against a unit of state government argues for an interpretation which excludes such units from the definition.
In the second place, I find the legislative history as inconclusive as the language of the Act itself in determining whether a governmental unit was intended to be treated as an enterprise for purposes of a RICO prosecution. The fact that Congress was concerned with political corruption in enacting the Organized Crime Control Act of 1970, P.L. 91 — 452, is not in dispute. However, RICO is just one part, Title IX, of *1003the Act. References in the legislative history of the Act must be examined carefully to determine whether they refer to a particular section or to the Act as a whole. None of the statements concerning the employment of the Act to root out political corruption cited by the majority appears to have been addressed to Title IX. The legislative history indicates to me that Congress perceived Title I of the Act — relating to special grand juries — as the chief vehicle for fighting political corruption. On the other hand, Title IX was seen as a weapon for combating the economic power wielded by organized crime through the operation of business enterprises, both legitimate and illegitimate. See United States v. Turkette, supra, (remarks of various senators quoted in footnotes 13 and 14), 452 U.S. at 591-92, 101 S.Ct. at 2533.
The fact that political corruption was a concern in enacting the entire legislative package which became the Organized Crime Control Act is totally inconclusive on the issue of whether Congress intended to include various units of state governments within a definition which applies only to one of the twelve separate titles of the Act. When various broad statements of purpose are laid aside there remain no explicit references in the legislative history which support a conclusion that the “enterprise” required for a RICO prosecution may consist of a governmental unit. See United States v. Grzywacz, 603 F.2d 682, 690-92 (7th Cir. 1979) (Swygert, J., dissenting), cert. denied, 446 U.S. 935, 100 S.Ct. 2152, 64 L.Ed.2d 788 (1980).
Finally, and perhaps most importantly, the Act should be interpreted in such a way as to avoid straining delicate state-federal relations. There is no provision in the Constitution or statutes of Tennessee establishing “The Office of the Governor.” However, Article III, Section 1 provides, “The Supreme Executive power of the state shall be vested in a Governor.” The office of the governor is no ordinary enterprise; it is the embodiment of state sovereignty. As the majority opinion makes clear, these three defendants could have been prosecuted under RICO 2 as an “enterprise” consisting of a group of individuals associated in fact. RICO is intended to be broadly construed. However, since neither the language of the statute nor its legislative history requires an interpretation which treats governmental units as RICO enterprises, and since corruption in government can be effectively reached through other provisions of the Organized Crime Control Act of 1970 and other federal criminal laws such as those dealing with extortion and mail fraud, consideration of comity should lead the courts to give RICO a less intrusive interpretation than that adopted by the majority. Instead this court now joins those other courts which have adopted a construction of RICO which is antithetical to the basic concepts of federalism. I would buck this tide and reverse the judgment of the district court.

. The behavior is that required for operation of the office, not the illegal acts which were performed by persons trading on the prestige of the office.

. The proof in this record which is treated as sufficient to establish activities in or affecting interstate commerce is slight. However, these are activities of individuals which would probably establish a sufficient nexus with commerce to support their prosecution as an enterprise of individuals associated in fact. It is quite a different thing to hold that the normal operations of the office of the chief executive of a state may be the basis of treating the office as an enterprise engaged in commerce for the purpose of prosecuting individuals who have misused their connections with that office.