United States v. Kozminski et al. (487 U.S. 931)
U.S. Supreme Court · decided June 29, 1988 · Supreme Court Database (Spaeth)
- Citation
- 487 U.S. 931 · 108 S. Ct. 2751
- Decided
- June 29, 1988
- Term
- October Term 1987
- Vote
- 9–0
- Majority author
- Justice O'Connor
- Issue area
- Criminal Procedure
- Disposition
- Affirmed
- Outcome
- Petitioning party lost
- Ideological direction
- Liberal
Opinion excerpt
Justice O’Connor delivered the opinion of the Court. This case concerns the scope of two criminal statutes enacted by Congress to enforce the Thirteenth Amendment. Title 18 U. S. C. §241 prohibits conspiracy to interfere with an individual’s Thirteenth Amendment right to be free from “involuntary servitude.” Title 18 U. S. C. § 1584 makes it a crime knowingly and willfully to hold another person “to involuntary servitude.” We must determine the meaning of “involuntary servitude” under these two statutes. I In 1983, two mentally retarded men were found laboring on a Chelsea, Michigan, dairy farm in poor health, in squalid conditions, and in relative isolation from the rest of society. The operators of the farm — Ike Kozminski, his wife Marga-rethe, and their son John — were charged with violating 18 U. S. C. §241 by conspiring to “injure, oppress, threaten, or intimidate” the two men in the free exercise and enjoyment of their federal right to be free from involuntary servitude. The Kozminskis were also charged with knowingly holding, or aiding and abetting in the holding of, the two men to involuntary servitude in violation of 18 U. S. C. §1584 and §2 The case was tried before a jury in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan. The Government’s evidence is summarized below. The victims, Robert Fulmer and Louis Molitoris, have intelligence…
Excerpt of a 87,543-character opinion. The full text and citation network load in the interactive viewer above.