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Some intriguing who and how dynamics in the Carr ruling reversing sex offender's SORNA conviction

By Douglas A. Berman

The substance of the Supreme Court's opinion this morning in Carr (basics here), which reverses a sex offender's failure-to-register federal conviction, is mind-numbing even for hard-core sentencing fans.  The decision is focused only on statutory interpretation: he majority declares that the criminal statute, 18 USC § 2250, does not apply to sex offenders whose interstate travel occurred before the effective date of the Sex OffenderRegistration and Notification Act (SORNA); the dissent contends that SORNA's statutory text should be read to reach preenactment as well as postenactment travel by sex offenders.  Along the way, we learn about congressional legislative drafting manuals, and the dissent even provides a remarkable sting cite to nine state legislative drafting manuals (with parentheticals)...continue to full post

Full post as published by Sentencing Law and Policy on June 01, 2010 (boomark / email).