Effie Hoke v. United States

• Decision Date: 24 February 1913
• Docket Number: No. 381,381
• Citation: 33 S.Ct. 281,57 L.Ed. 523,227 U.S. 308
• Parties: EFFIE HOKE and Basile Economides, Plffs. in Err., v. UNITED STATES
• Court: U.S. Supreme Court

227 U.S. 308

33 S.Ct. 281

57 L.Ed. 523

EFFIE HOKE and Basile Economides, Plffs. in Err.,

v UNITED STATES.

No. 381.

Argued January 7 and 8, 1913.

Decided February 24, 1913.

[Syllabus from pages 308-310 intentionally omitted] Messrs. C. W. Howth, Hal W. Greer, T. H. Bowers, and Charles C. Luzenberg for plaintiffs in error.

[Argument of Counsel from pages 310-313 intentionally omitted] Assistant Attorney General Harr for defendant in error.

[Argument of Counsel from pages 313-316 intentionally omitted] Mr. Justice McKenna delivered the opinion of the court:

Error to review a judgment of conviction under the act of Congress of June 25, 1910, entitled, 'An Act to Further Regulate Interstate and Foreign Commerce by Prohibiting the Transportation Therein for Immoral Purposes of Women and Girls, and for Other Purposes.' 36 Stat. at L. 825, chap. 395, U. S. Comp. Stat. Supp. 1911, p. 1343. It is commonly known as the white slave act.

The constitutionality of the act was assailed by demurrer, and as its sufficiency otherwise was not questioned, a brief summary of its allegations is all that is necessary.

The charge against Effie Hoke is that she 'did, on the 14th day of November, A. D. 1910, in the city of New Orleans and state of Louisiana, unlawfully, feloniously, and knowingly persuade, induce, and entice one Annette Baden, alias Annette Hays, a woman, to go from New Orleans, a city in the state of Louisiana, to Beaumont, a city in the state of Texas, in interstate commerce, for the purpose of prostitution,' etc.

The charge against Basile Economides is that he 'did unlawfully, feloniously, and knowingly aid and assist the said Effie Hoke to persuade, induce, and entice the said Annette Baden . . . to go in interstate commerce . . . for the purpose of prostitution,' with the intent and purpose that the said woman 'should engage in the practice of prostitution in the said city of Beaumont, Texas.'

The second and third counts make the same charge against the defendants as to another woman, the one named in the third count being under eighteen years.

The demurrers were overruled, and after trial the defendants were convicted and sentenced, each to two years' imprisonment on each count. 187 Fed. 992.

The indictment was drawn under §§ 2, 3, and 4 of the act, which sections are as follows:

'Sec. 2. That any person who shall knowingly transport or cause to be transported, or aid or assist in obtaining transportation for, or in transporting, in interstate or foreign commerce, or in any territory or in the District of Columbia, any woman or girl for the purpose of prosti- tution or debauchery, or for any other immoral purpose, or with the intent and purpose to induce, entice, or compel such woman or girl to become a prostitute or to give herself up to debauchery, or to engage in any other immoral practice; or who shall knowingly procure or obtain, or cause to be procured or obtained, or aid or assist in procuring or obtaining, any ticket or tickets, or any form of transportation or evidence of the right thereto, to be used by any woman or girl in interstate or foreign commerce, or in any territory or the District of Columbia, in going to any place for the purpose of prostitution or debauchery, or for any other immoral purpose, or with the intent and purpose on the part of such person to induce, entice, or compel her to give herself up to the practice of prostitution, or to give herself up to debauchery, or any other immoral practice, whereby any such woman or girl shall be transported in interstate or foreign commerce, or in any territory or the District of Columbia, shall be deemed guilty of a felony, and upon conviction thereof shall be punished by a fine not exceeding five thousand dollars, or by imprisonment of not more than five years, or by both such fine and imprisonment, in the discretion of the court.'

The 3d section is directed against the persuasion, inducement, and enticement of any woman or girl to go from one place to another in interstate or foreign commerce, whether with or without her consent, to engage in the practices and for the purposes stated in the 1st section, and provides that anyone 'who shall thereby knowingly cause, or aid or assist in causing, such woman or girl to go or to be carried or transported as a passenger upon the line or route of any common carrier or carriers in interstate or foreign commerce, or any territory or the District of Columbia,' shall be punished as prescribed in the 1st section.

Section 4 makes criminal persuasion, inducement, and enticement of a woman or girl under the age of eight- een years from any state or territory or the District of Columbia to any other state or territory or the District of Columbia to engage in the immoral practices enumerated. The person guilty thereof, and who shall, in furtherance thereof, knowingly induce or cause such woman or girl to be carried or transported as a passenger in interstate commerce, shall be deemed guilty of a felony, and on conviction the offender's punishment may be a fine of $10,000 or imprisonment for ten years, or by both fine and imprisonment, in the discretion of the court.

The grounds of attack upon the constitutionality of the statute are expressed by counsel as follows:

'1. Because it is contrary to and contravenes art. 4, § 2, of the Constitution of the United States, which reads: 'The citizens of each state shall be entitled to all the privileges and immunities of citizens in the several states.'

'2. Because it is contrary to and contravenes the following two amendments to the Constitution:

'Art. 9. The enumeration in the Constitution of certain rights shall not be construed to deny or disparage others retained by the people.

'Art. 10. The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the states, are reserved to the states respectively, or to the people.

'3. Because that clause of the Constitution which reserves to Congress the power (art. 1, § 8, subdiv. 2) 'to regulate commerce with foreign nations, and among the several states,' etc., is not broad enough to include the power to regulate prostitution or any other immorality of citizens of the several states as a condition precedent (or subsequent) to their right to travel interstate, or to aid or assist another to so travel.

'4. Because the right and power to regulate and control prostitution, or any other immoralities of citizens, comes within the reserved police power of the several states and under the Constitution Congress cannot interfere therewith, either directly or indirectly, under the grant of power 'to regulate commerce between the states."

We shall discuss at length but one of these grounds; the others will be referred to incidentally. The power of Congress under the commerce clause of the Constitution is the ultimate determining question. If the statute be a valid exercise of that power, how it may affect persons or states is not material to be considered. It is the supreme law of the land, and persons and states are subject to it.

Congress is given power 'to regulate commerce with foreign nations and among the several states.' The power is direct; there is no word of limitation in it, and its broad and universal scope has been so often declared as to make repetition unnecessary. And, besides, it has had so much illustration by cases that it would seem as if there could be no instance of its exercise that does not find an admitted example in some one of them. Experience, however, is the other way, and in almost every instance of the exercise of the power differences are asserted from previous exercises of it and made a ground of attack. The present case is an example.

Commerce among the states, we have said, consists of intercourse and traffic between their citizens, and includes the transportation of persons and property. There may be, therefore, a movement of persons as well as of property; that is, a person may move or be moved in interstate commerce. And the act under consideration was drawn in view of that possibility. What the act condemns is transportation obtained or aided, or transportation induced, in interstate commerce, for the immoral purposes mentioned. But an objection is made and urged with earnestness. It is said that it is the right and privilege of a person to move between states, and that such being the right, another cannot be made guilty of the crime of inducing or assisting or aiding in the exercise of it, and 'that the motive or intention of the passenger, either before beginning the journey, or during or after completing it, is not a matter of interstate commerce.' The contentions confound things important to be distinguished. It urges a right exercised in morality to sustain a right to be exercised in immorality. It is the same right which attacked the law of Congress which prohibits the carrying of obscene literature and articles designed for indecent and immoral use from one state to another. 29 Stat. at L. 512, chap. 172, U. S. Comp. Stat. 1901, p. 3180; United States v. Popper, 98 Fed. 423. It is the...