United States Third Circuit

District court's denial of defendant's motion to dismiss his indictment for failing to register as a sex offender in violation of the Sex Offender Registration and Notification Act (SORNA) is affirmed where: 1) nothing in SORNA or its guidelines indicates that a jurisdiction's failure to comply with SORNA relieves offenders of the obligation to register in that jurisdiction; 2) the Ex Post Facto Clause has no application to defendant's situation; 3) defendant had notice of his registration obligations; 4) SORNA is a proper regulation of commerce under the Lopez categories; 5) defendant, as a private party, lacks standing to raise a Tenth Amendment challenge to SORNA; 6) any impediment on defendant's travel does not reach the Constitutional threshold of his right to travel interstate; and 7) defendant lacks standing to challenge the rule or the manner in which it was promulgated.

Appellate Information

• Decided 02/09/2010
• Published 02/09/2010

Judges

• Before McKEE, CHAGARES, and NYGAARD, Circuit Judges.

Court

• United States Third Circuit

Counsel

• For Appellant:
  
• Frederick W. Ulrich, Esq., Thomas A. Thornton, Esq., Office of the Federal Public Defender, Harrisburg, PA, for Appellant.


• For Appellees:
  
• Martin C. Carlson, Esq., Theodore B. Smith, III, Esq., Office of the United States Attorney, Harrisburg, PA, for Appellee.