An Important Second Circuit Ruling on Sanctuary Jurisdictions May Have Reached the Right Result, but En Route it Misread the Momentous Sebelius Supreme Court Ruling on Conditional Federal Funding to States

VIKRAM DAVID AMAR

Illinois Law dean and professor Vikram David Amar comments on a recent decision by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit regarding so-called “sanctuary” jurisdictions. Amar argues that while the Second Circuit may have arrived at the correct conclusion of law, it also misunderstood the Supreme Court’s decision in NFIB v. Sebelius, in which the Court struck down the “Medicare expansion” provision of the Affordable Care Act as unconstitutionally coercive. Amar points out that in Sebelius, the Court found the fact that the Medicare expansion provision of the ACA vitiated the terms of a preexisting deal was sufficient to hold that provision coercive.

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United States v. Wagner

Docket: 19-3068

Opinion Date: March 3, 2020

Judge: Scott Milne Matheson, Jr.

Areas of Law: Constitutional Law, Criminal Law

In 2015, the FBI deployed a Network Investigative Technique (“NIT”) to identify the Internet Protocol (“IP”) addresses of computers accessing “Playpen,” a child pornography website. One of those IP addresses belonged to Defendant-Appellant Wesley Wagner. Agents executed a warrant for his Kansas residence, where they interviewed him and found evidence of child pornography on a laptop computer. He would be indicted for receipt and possession of child pornography. Wagner moved to suppress the NIT's identification of his IP address, the pornography evidence in his home, and statements he made to agents. he district court denied his motions. Following a three-day trial, a jury convicted him of both counts. On appeal, Wagner argued the district court erred in denying his motions to suppress and motion to dismiss the indictment. He also contended an erroneous evidentiary ruling required a new trial and that the evidence was insufficient to sustain his convictions. Finding no reversible error, the Tenth Circuit affirmed Wagner's convictions.