Abstract
The Sex Offender Registration and Notification Act was intended to combat the presence of sex offenders nationwide by providing the public with access to a detailed registry containing each sex offender’s current location. Since its enactment, however, litigants have challenged the constitutionality of the Act on a multitude of grounds. This Comment focuses on whether Congress has the power under the Commerce Clause to criminally punish an offender who travels in interstate commerce and fails to register or update his registry. Although the majority of courts have upheld this provision, their opinions have varied as to the source of Congress’s Commerce Clause power under United States v. Lopez. This Comment argues that the majority of courts have incorrectly validated the provision based on its jurisdictional element alone, when, in fact, the mere presence of a jurisdictional element does not render a statute constitutional under Lopez. Rather, this provision should be analyzed under the Supreme Court’s opinion in Gonzales v. Raich because it is one component of a larger, comprehensive scheme to regulate sex offenders. Therefore, under Raich, the provision is constitutional because it regulates the failure to register, a purely intrastate activity that could effectively undermine Congress’s comprehensive national registry.
Recommended Citation
Laura Barke,
Looking Beyond Lopez: Enforcing the Sex Offender Registration and Notification Act Under the Commerce Clause,
34
S. Ill. U. L.J.
703
(2010).
Available at:
https://opensiuc.lib.siu.edu/siulj/vol34/iss3/6