Criminal Law

Criminal Law and the Congress Commerce Power

Federal criminal jurisdiction based on the commerce power, and frequently combined with the postal power, has historically been an auxiliary criminal jurisdiction. That is, Congress has made federal crimes of acts that constitute state crimes on the basis of some contact, however tangential, with a matter subject to congressional regulation even though the federal interest in the acts may be minimal.1 Examples of this type of federal criminal statute abound, including the Mann Act designed to outlaw interstate white slavery,2 the Dyer Act punishing interstate transportation of stolen automobiles,3 and the Lindbergh Law punishing interstate transportation of kidnapped persons.4 But, just as in other areas, Congress has passed beyond a proscription of the use of interstate facilities in the commission of a crime, it has in the criminal law area expanded the scope of its jurisdiction. Typical of this expansion is a statute making it a federal offense to “in any way or degree obstruct . . . delay . . . or affect . . . commerce . . . by robbery or extortion . . . .” 5 With the expansion of the scope of the reach of “commerce” the statute potentially could reach crimes involving practically all business concerns, although it appears to be used principally against organized crime.

More about Criminal Law and the Congress Commerce Power

The most far-reaching measure the Court has sustained is the “loan-sharking” prohibition of the Consumer Credit Protection Act.6 The title affirmatively finds that extortionate credit transactions affect interstate commerce because loan sharks are in a class largely controlled by organized crime with a substantially adverse effect on interstate commerce. Upholding the statute, the Court found that though individual loan-sharking activities may be intrastate in nature, still it is within Congress's power to determine that it was within a class the activities of which did affect interstate commerce, thus affording Congress power to regulate the entire class.7

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References

This text about Criminal Law is based on “The Constitution of the United States of America: Analysis and Interpretation”, published by the U.S. Government Printing Office.

[Footnote 1] E.g., Barrett v. United States, 423 U.S. 212 (1976); Scarborough v. United States, 431 U.S. 563 (1977); Lewis v. United States, 445 U.S. 55 (1980); McElroy v. United States, 455 U.S. 642 (1982).

[Footnote 2] 18 U.S.C. § 2421.

[Footnote 3] 18 U.S.C. § 2312.

[Footnote 4] 18 U.S.C. § 1201.

[Footnote 5] 18 U.S.C. § 1951. See also 18 U.S.C. § 1952.

[Footnote 6] Title II, 82 Stat. 159 (1968), 18 U.S.C. §§ 891 et seq.

[Footnote 7] Perez v. United States, 402 U.S. 146 (1971). See also Russell v. United States, 471 U.S. 858 (1985).

Tables of Contents

• Criminal Law and other Topics in the Contents – Article 1 of the U.S. Constitution
• U.S. Constitutional Law Category
• List of amendments to the U.S. Constitution
• Criminal Law and other Topics in the Constitution Contents
• Interpretation of the U.S. Constitution (Table of Contents)
• Clauses of the Constitution (Table of Contents)