Indictment Reinstated Over Commerce Clause Objections

U.S. v. Jeronimo-Bautista, 2005 WL 2542883 (10/12/05) - The 10th reverses a d.ct. dismissal of an indictment. It was not a violation of the Commerce Clause to prosecute the defendant for coercing a minor to engage in sexually explicit conduct to produce child porn under 18 U.S.C. § 2251(a), even though the defendant kept the resulting photos to himself and the only interstate connection was that the camera was manufactured outside the state. The 10th decided the situation was just like that in Gonzales v. Raich, 125 S.Ct. 2195 (2005), where the S.Ct. found constitutional the prosecution of the woman who produced marijuana only for her own medical needs. Congress made a rational determination that the defendant's local production of child porn constitutes an essential part of the interstate child porn market.