Thread by @OrinKerr

A bit about the federal law of enticement and so-called traveler cases, which may be of interest in light of the story below.
nytimes.com/2021/03/30/us/…

Every state has age of consent laws, prohibiting sexual intercourse with a person under the age of consent. The age of consent varies by state, generally being 16, 17, or 18. See the chart here: aspe.hhs.gov/report/statuto…

Federal law makes certain interstate conduct done with intent to commit such crimes a federal crime. For example, 18 U.S.C. 2423 makes it a crime to transport a person under 18 in interstate commerce w/ intent to engage in an illegal sexual act. law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/18…

Similarly, 18 U.S.C. 2423(b) makes traveling in interstate commerce to engage in an illegal sexual act a crime. There are several variations of these crimes in Sections 2421, 2422, and 2423.

Notably, these crimes harness state law. The crime is often about crossing state lines, or having someone else cross state lines, with intent to engage in an illegal sexual act in that state. So it's what is a crime in that state that matters.

United States v. Patten, 397 F.3d 1100 (8th Cir. 2005), illustrates the point. Patten was in Minnesota, and he traveled to North Dakota to engage in sexual activity with a person he thought was a 16 year old who lived there. It turned out it was an undercover cop instead.

Patten was convicted and sentenced to 15 months in prison for using the Internet to try to persuade a minor to engage in an illegal act under 18 U.S.C. 2422(b). Patten argued on appeal that he was innocent because there wasn't proof he planned to do the act in North Dakota.

That mattered, Patten argued, because the act wouldn't be illegal in Minnesota.

CA8 affirmed the conviction on the ground that all the jury was only required to find that Patten was going to try to persuade the 16-year-old in N.D. to commit the act that, in N.D., was illegal.

There was enough evidence of the intent to persuade the 16-year-old in the state where it would be illegal to commit the act, even if the actual act would be committed elsewhere. Conviction affirmed.

How does this relate to possible charges against Rep. Gaetz? First, recognize that this is only a report of an investigation. We don't, as far as I can tell, know a lot of the facts. So caution is warranted before speculating too much.

But the suggestion in the NY Times article is that Gaetz may have been carrying on a sexual relationship involving travel with a 17-year-old girl. If so, depending on the states, that might end up being transporting a minor across state lines to further a criminal act.

But it depends a lot on the details of the state law, what particular states, the intent, etc. as the Patten case suggests. /end