United States, Petitioner v. Anthony James Kebodeaux (570 U.S. 387)
U.S. Supreme Court · decided June 24, 2013 · Supreme Court Database (Spaeth)
- Citation
- 570 U.S. 387 · 133 S. Ct. 2496
- Decided
- June 24, 2013
- Term
- October Term 2012
- Vote
- 7–2
- Majority author
- Justice Breyer
- Issue area
- Criminal Procedure
- Disposition
- Reversed and remanded
- Outcome
- Petitioning party won
- Ideological direction
- Conservative
Opinion excerpt
Justice BREYER delivered the opinion of the Court. In 1999 a special court-martial convicted Anthony Kebodeaux, a member of the United States Air Force, of a sex offense. It imposed a sentence of three months' imprisonment and a bad conduct discharge. In 2006, several years after Kebodeaux had served his sentence and been discharged, Congress enacted the Sex Offender Registration and Notification Act (SORNA), 120 Stat. 590, 42 U.S.C. § 16901 et seq., a federal statute that requires those convicted of federal sex offenses to register in the States where they live, study, and work. § 16913(a) ; 18 U.S.C. § 2250(a). And, by regulation, the Federal Government made clear that SORNA's registration requirements apply to federal sex offenders who, when SORNA became law, had already completed their sentences. 42 U.S.C. § 16913(d) (Attorney General's authority to issue regulations); 28 CFR § 72.3 (2012) (regulation specifying application to pre-SORNA offenders). We here must decide whether the Constitution's Necessary and Proper Clause grants Congress the power to enact SORNA's registration requirements and apply them to a federal offender who had completed his sentence prior to the time of SORNA's enactment. For purposes of answering this question, we assume that Congress has complied with the Constitution's Ex Post Facto and Due Process Clauses. See Smith v. Doe, 538 U.S. 84,…
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