United States v. McHugh

967 F. Supp. 1279, 1997 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 9018, 1997 WL 357923
CourtDistrict Court, N.D. Georgia
DecidedJanuary 10, 1997
Docket1:96-cr-00201
StatusPublished

This text of 967 F. Supp. 1279 (United States v. McHugh) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, N.D. Georgia primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
United States v. McHugh, 967 F. Supp. 1279, 1997 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 9018, 1997 WL 357923 (N.D. Ga. 1997).

Opinion

ORDER

FORRESTER, District Judge.

This matter is before the court on Defendant Ronald McHugh’s two motions to dismiss [10-1, 17-1]. Also pending before the court is Magistrate Judge John E. Dougherty’s Report and Recommendation that Defendant’s first motion to dismiss be denied [13— 1].

I. STATEMENT OF THE CASE

On May 3, 1996, the Government filed a one-count information that charged Defendant Ronald McHugh with a violation of the Federal Child Support Recovery Act, 18 U.S.C. § 228 (“CSRA”).

The CSRA provides that “whoever willfully fails to pay a past due support obligation with respect to a child who resides in another State shall be punished----” 18 U.S.C. § 228(a). The statute further defines “past due support” as any amount determined by a court order or an administrative process to be due that remains unpaid for over a year or is in an amount over $5000. 18 U.S.C. § 228(d)(1).

II. DISCUSSION

A. Violation of Constitution

In his first motion to dismiss, Defendant contends that the CSRA exceeds the power of Congress under the Commerce Clause and infringes on the powers reserved to the states under the Tenth Amendment.

In making his argument, Defendant primarily relies on United States v. Lopez, 514 U.S. 549, 115 S.Ct. 1624, 131 L.Ed.2d 626 (1995), and three district court cases where the courts concluded that the CSRA was unconstitutional: United States v. Mussari, 894 F.Supp. 1360, recon. denied, 912 F.Supp. 1248 (D.Ariz.1995), rev’d, 95 F.3d 787 (9th Cir.1996); United States v. Schroeder, 894 F.Supp. 360, recon. denied, 912 F.Supp. 1240 (D.Ariz.1995), rev’d, 95 F.3d 787 (9th Cir.1996); United States v. Bailey, 902 F.Supp. 727 (W.D.Tx.1995).

In Lopez, the Supreme Court struck down the Gun-Free School Zone Act of 1990 on the grounds that it exceeded the power of Congress to regulate commerce among the states. 514 U.S. at 551-53, 115 S.Ct. at 1626. 1 In its opinion, the court articulated *1281 three “broad” areas of congressional commerce power. First, Congress has the power to “regulate the use of the channels of interstate commerce.” Id. at 558, 115 S.Ct. at 1629. Second, Congress can “regulate and protect the instrumentalities of interstate commerce, or persons or things in interstate commerce, even though the threat may come only from intrastate activities.” Id. Finally, Congress can regulate “those activities having a substantial relationship to interstate commerce.” Id. at 558-59, 115 S.Ct. at 1629-30. The Supreme Court quickly determined that the Gun-Free School Zones Act failed either to regulate the use of channels or to protect the instrumentalities of interstate commerce. Id. at 559-61, 115 S.Ct. at 1630. The Court therefore concentrated on the issue of whether the Act regulated an activity that “substantially affected” interstate commerce. The Court concluded that it did not, because it was a criminal statute that “by its terms” had nothing to do with commerce or economic enterprise, and because it failed to include any jurisdictional element which would ensure a link to interstate commerce. Id. at 559-63, 115 S.Ct. at 1630-31.

The district courts that Defendant relies upon, after considering Lopez, concluded that the CSRA violated the Commerce Clause because: (1) it is a criminal statute that has no explicit link to interstate commerce or to economic activity; (2) the jurisdictional element that the delinquent parent and the child reside in different states is too tenuous a tie to interstate commerce, since the statute is not limited to those delinquent parents who fled to another state to avoid payment of child support; (3) nonpayment of child support simply does not substantially affect interstate commerce. Mussari, 894 F.Supp. at 1363-65; Schroeder, 894 F.Supp. at 364-67.

As a preliminary matter, the court notes that since the time that Defendant filed his motion, the district court opinions in Mussari and Schroeder have been reversed by the Ninth Circuit. See United States v. Mussari, 95 F.3d 787 (9th Cir.1996). Furthermore, two other Circuits, the Second and the Tenth, have concluded that the CSRA does not violate either the Commerce Clause or the Tenth Amendment. See United States v. Sage, 92 F.3d 101 (2d Cir.1996); U.S. v. Hampshire, 95 F.3d 999 (10th Cir.1996). Moreover, in addition to the six district court opinions that the Government cited in the appendix to its response brief as upholding the CSRA, several more district courts have found it to be constitutional. See U.S. v. Johnson, 940 F.Supp. 911 (E.D.Va.1996); U.S. v. Lewis, 936 F.Supp. 1093 (D.R.I.1996); U.S. v. Sims, 936 F.Supp. 817 (N.D.Okla.1996); U.S. v. Ganaposki, 930 F.Supp. 1076 (M.D.Pa.1996).

For essentially the reasons expressed in the courts that have found the CSRA to be constitutional, the court concludes that the CSRA does not violate the Commerce Clause. 2

Unlike the Gun-Free School Zones Act which was struck down in Lopez, the CSRA has a jurisdictional element. In order for a federal prosecution under it to be successful, the delinquent parent must be outside the state where his or her dependent child resides and must face an obligation to pay funds from his or her state to the child in the other state. 18 U.S.C. § 228(a). As a result, liability under the CSRA will only attach when the parent and the child live in different states so that any payment from the parent to the child will have to move in interstate commerce. Furthermore, in order for the child and the parent to reside in different states, one of them must at some point have crossed state lines.

Once the requirements of this Jurisdictional element is understood, it is clear that Congress was acting within its Commerce Clause powers in passing the CSRA. Specifically, the CSRA is within Congress’ power to “regulate and protect the instrumentalities of interstate commerce, or persons or things in interstate commerce.” See Lopez, 514 U.S. *1282 at 558, 115 S.Ct. at 1629. This court agrees with the Ninth Circuit and its statement that:

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Bluebook (online)
967 F. Supp. 1279, 1997 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 9018, 1997 WL 357923, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/united-states-v-mchugh-gand-1997.