No. 18-6900

Jacob Scott Watters v. United States

Lower Court: Eighth Circuit
Docketed: 2018-12-07
Status: Denied
Type: IFP
Response WaivedIFP
Tags: child-pornography commerce-clause constitutional-limits criminal-law predicate-offense relevant-conduct sentencing-guidelines statutory-interpretation unconstitutional-law visual-depictions
Key Terms:
Environmental SocialSecurity Securities Immigration
Latest Conference: 2019-01-04
Question Presented (AI Summary)

Is 18 U.S.C. §2251(a) unconstitutional under the Commerce Clause?

Question Presented (OCR Extract)

QUESTION(S) PRESENTED (1). As written, and by the actual language used in the Statute, is 18 U.S.C. §2251(a) in excess of Congress' Powers under the Commerce Clause to. regulate visual depictions of child pornography as the current revision of the statute does not "contain" any actual visual depictions of child. pornography in the subjectmatter of of the statute? (2). Did the District Court. for the Southern District of Iowa, Davenport, abuse its discretion when it miscalculated the Guideline Range, resulting in a 210-262 month sentence, instead of a 188-235 month sentence, resulting in the Petitioner receiving a 240 month sentence, by employing an incorrect interpretation of "relevant conduct" under U.S.S.G. §2G2.1(d)(1)? (3). Did the District Court for the Southern District of Iowa, Davenport abuse its discretion when it incorrectly determined that the Petitioner's prior Iowa Conviction qualified as a predicate offense under 18 U.S.C. §2252(b)(1)? (4) If 18 U.S.C. §2251(a) is unconstitutional as written and applied to the Petitioner's offense, then are any U.S.S.G. sections that were created as a result of this unconstitutional law : applicable until such time as Congress corrects the language in §2251(a) to conform with its limited/enumerated powers?

Docket Entries

2019-01-07
Petition DENIED.
2018-12-20
DISTRIBUTED for Conference of 1/4/2019.
2018-12-14
Waiver of right of respondent United States to respond filed.
2018-10-15
Petition for a writ of certiorari and motion for leave to proceed in forma pauperis filed. (Response due January 7, 2019)

Attorneys

Jacob Scott Watters
Jacob Scott Watters — Petitioner
Jacob Scott Watters — Petitioner
United States
Noel J. FranciscoSolicitor General, Respondent
Noel J. FranciscoSolicitor General, Respondent