Document Type

Brief

Case Name

Jeffrey Allan Fischer v. United States of America

Publication Date

12-1999

Abstract

No. 99-116
Jeffrey Allan Fischer v. United States of America

On Writ of Certiorari to the United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit

From the Summary of the Argument

We agree with the Petitioner that the Court of Appeals misread Section 666(b). Section 666 was designed to protect the integrity of federal funds by outlawing bribery in connection with the administration of those funds, and the plain meaning of the language the statute employs is adequate to achieve that purpose. The Court of Appeals, on the other hand, exploded the well defined limits that the statute's text imposes on federal jurisdiction over local bribery and embraced a reading that severely disrupts the Constitution's "delicate balance" between state and federal power. Gregory v. Ashcroft, 501 U.S. 452, 460 (1992). The rationale of the decision below has no logical stopping point. See Lopez, 514 U.S. at 563 ("[I]f we were to accept the Government's arguments, we are hard pressed to posit any activity by an individual that Congress is without power to regulate.").

Comments

The National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers ("NACOL") submits this amicus curiae brief in support of the Petitioner, Jeffrey Allan Fischer. The NACOL is a nonprofit corporation with more than 10,000 lawyer-members and 28,000 affiliate-members in all 50 States. The American Bar Association recognizes the NACOL as an affiliate organization and awards it full representation in the ABA's House of Delegates.

Table of Authorities includes:

Richard W. Garnett, "Once More Into the Maze: United States v. Lopez, Tribal Self-Determination, and Federal Conspiracy Jurisdiction in Indian Country," 72 N. D. L. Rev. 433 (1996).

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