Malik Holloway v. United States
AdministrativeLaw
Whether 18 U.S.C. §930(e)(1) is unconstitutionally vague
QUESTION PRESENTED Petitioner was convicted of violating his conditions of supervised release based on his commission of a federal crime, i.e., a violation of 18 U.S.C. §930(e)(1) (prohibiting the possession of a “dangerous weapon” in a federal court facility). Section 930(g)(2) defines a “dangerous weapon” as a “device, instrument, material, or substance, animate or inanimate, that ...is readily capable of, causing death or serious bodily injury,” but contains no mens rea requirement that the possessor of the device or instrument do so with an intent to use it to cause death or serious bodily injury. Asa result, the statute invites wholly arbitrary enforcement since practically any device is readily capable of causing death or serious bodily injury. See, e.g., United States v. Tolbert, 668 F.3d 798, 802-03 (6th Cir.2012). (plastic water pitcher used to strike a deputy marshal was a “dangerous weapon”). This petition raises the following question: Isn’t 18 U.S.C. §930(e)(1) which criminalizes the mere possession in a federal courthouse of practically any item unconstitutionally vague? i