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U.S. Supreme Court,
Criminal,
Constitutional Law

Oct. 17, 2018

With SORNA, Congress chose to avoid difficult questions

A case pending on the Supreme Court’s docket revisits the “intelligible principles” doctrine under the Sex Offender Registration and Notification Act.

John H. Minan

Emeritus Professor of Law
University of San Diego School of Law

Professor Minan is a former attorney with the Department of Justice in Washington, D.C. and the former chairman of the San Diego Regional Water Quality Board.

See more...

With SORNA, Congress chose to avoid difficult questions
Justice Neil Gorsuch asked a critical question during oral argument: "How do people even know who is going to be included in this class (pre-Act offenders subject to registration) until they hear from the Attorney General? I'm having trouble thinking of another delegation in which this Court has ever allowed the chief prosecutor of the United States to write the criminal law for those he is going to prosecute." Other justices also seemed troubled by the law. (New York Times News Service)

OT18

Article I, Section 1, of the Constitution vests "all legislative power" in the Congress. Except in certain clear cases, such as the power to impeach the president or declare war, Congress has broad discretion to delegate its power to the executive branch, including administrative agencies. Congress routinely authorizes the executive branch to adopt regulations with the force and effect of law. The underlying theory is that the executive b...

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