United States Ninth Circuit

Conviction for sex-trafficking offenses in violation of the Trafficking Victims Protection Act (TVPA) is affirmed where: 1) Congress used the language "in or affecting interstate or foreign commerce" in the TVPA, it intended to exercise its full powers under the CommerceClause; 2) consistent with the outer limits of the commerce power defined in Gonzales v. Raich,545 U.S. 1 (2005), any individual instance of conduct regulated by the TVPA need only have a de minimis effect on interstate commerce, and the district court therefore did not err when it instructed the jury that "any act that crosses state lines is 'in' interstate commerce" and "an act or transaction that is economic in nature" and "affects the flow of money in the stream of commerce to any degree 'affects' interstate commerce"; and 3) the jury instruction did not essentially direct a verdict on the element of interstate commerce.

Appellate Information

• Decided 04/21/2015
• Published 04/21/2015

Judges

• Bea

Court

• United States Ninth Circuit

Counsel