United States v. Nikos Delano Dorsey
67 Fed. R. Serv. 1227, 2005 U.S. App. LEXIS 16717, 418 F.3d 1038 (2005)
Premium Feature
Subscribe to Lexplug to listen to the Case Podcast.
Rule of Law:
A federal statute that criminalizes purely local, non-economic activity is a valid exercise of Congress's power under the Commerce Clause if the statute includes a jurisdictional element requiring the government to prove, on a case-by-case basis, that the item involved has moved in or affects interstate commerce.
Facts:
- On September 2, 2003, Officer Jason Schmidt encountered Nikos Delano Dorsey on the grounds of Bartlett High School in Anchorage, Alaska, where Dorsey was violating the school's dress code.
- After a verbal confrontation, Dorsey admitted he was not a student and gave a false reason for his presence, claiming to be picking up a fictitious student named Staphon Livingood.
- Officer Schmidt, with the approval of Assistant Principal Tina Johnson-Harris, instructed Dorsey to leave the campus and warned him that if he returned without a legitimate purpose, he would be arrested for trespass.
- Later that same afternoon, Detective Nancy Potter observed a car matching Dorsey's being driven recklessly in the school parking lot.
- The next afternoon, Officers Schmidt and Peck saw Dorsey driving erratically through a school parking lot again.
- The officers initiated a traffic stop, and upon smelling marijuana and noting Dorsey's bloodshot eyes, they arrested him for trespass.
Procedural Posture:
- A federal grand jury indicted Nikos Delano Dorsey on three counts, including possession of a firearm in a school zone.
- Dorsey filed a motion to suppress evidence, arguing his arrest was not supported by probable cause.
- Dorsey also filed a motion to dismiss the firearm charge, arguing the Gun-Free School Zones Act was an unconstitutional exercise of Congress's Commerce Clause power.
- The United States District Court, adopting a magistrate judge’s recommendation, denied both of Dorsey's motions.
- Dorsey entered a conditional guilty plea, preserving his right to appeal the district court's rulings on his motions.
- The district court sentenced Dorsey to a total of ninety-eight months imprisonment.
- Dorsey, as the appellant, appealed his conviction to the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit.
Premium Content
Subscribe to Lexplug to view the complete brief
You're viewing a preview with Rule of Law, Facts, and Procedural Posture
Issue:
Does the revised Gun-Free School Zones Act, 18 U.S.C. § 922(q)(2)(A), which contains a jurisdictional element requiring the firearm to have moved in or affected interstate commerce, exceed Congress's regulatory power under the Commerce Clause?
Opinions:
Majority - Tallman, J.
No, the revised Gun-Free School Zones Act is a constitutional exercise of Congress's Commerce Clause power. The Supreme Court in United States v. Lopez struck down the prior version of the statute specifically because it lacked an 'express jurisdictional element which might limit its reach to a discrete set of firearm possessions that additionally have an explicit connection with or effect on interstate commerce.' Congress amended the statute to include precisely such an element, requiring the prosecution to prove in each case that the firearm 'has moved in or that otherwise affects interstate or foreign commerce.' This case-by-case inquiry ensures that the regulated conduct has a concrete tie to interstate commerce, thereby curing the constitutional defect identified in Lopez and bringing the statute within the bounds of congressional authority, consistent with circuit precedent on the similar felon-in-possession statute, 18 U.S.C. § 922(g).
Concurring-in-part-and-dissenting-in-part - Rawlinson, J.
I concur in the result but dissent from the majority's reasoning regarding probable cause. The officers lacked probable cause to arrest Dorsey for trespass under Alaska law because they were not the 'person in charge' authorized to issue such a directive, and the warning from the previous day was not a 'reasonably contemporaneous' order to leave. However, the arrest was nonetheless constitutional under the Fourth Amendment based on the Supreme Court's ruling in Devenpeck v. Alford. Because the magistrate judge found that there was probable cause to arrest Dorsey for the separate offense of reckless driving, the arrest was objectively reasonable and thus lawful, rendering the subsequent search valid. Therefore, while the majority's trespass analysis is incorrect, the ultimate conclusion to uphold the conviction is correct on other grounds.
Analysis:
This decision solidifies the constitutionality of the amended Gun-Free School Zones Act within the Ninth Circuit, affirming the 'jurisdictional element' as a successful legislative fix to the Commerce Clause limitations established in United States v. Lopez. The ruling provides a clear and replicable framework for Congress to regulate local, non-economic activities by linking them to an item that has crossed state lines. This approach allows for federal intervention in traditionally state-policed areas without facially violating the principles of federalism articulated by the Supreme Court, effectively creating a widely used template for federal criminal statutes.
