Sotomayor, J., dissenting
for the conclusion that core obstruction of justice requires the administration of justice.
When Congress codified chapter 73 in 1948, the chapter contained six provisions, each of which requires a connection to a pending proceeding or investigation. See Act of June 25, 1948, §§1501–1506, 62 Stat. 769–770. The central provision is §1503, with its omnibus or catchall prohibition against endeavoring “to influence, obstruct, or impede, the due administration of justice.” As already explained, supra, at 5, it is undisputed that §1503’s omnibus clause requires a pending proceeding. The same is true for the other five provisions, all of which either refer to ongoing legal processes or cover conduct that can arise only during legal proceedings.[1]
By the time Congress passed 8 U. S. C. §1101(a)(43)(S) in 1996, Congress had added nine narrower, more specific offenses to the six original offenses (§§1501–1506) in chapter 73. See 18 U. S. C. §§1507–1513, 1516–1517.[2] While it is less clear that those specialized provisions fall within the heartland of obstruction of justice, even the vast majority of them require a connection to a proceeding or investigation.[3]
- ↑ The five other original chapter 73 offenses are §1501 (“Assault on process server”); §1502 (“Resistance to extradition agent”); §1504 (“Influencing juror by writing”); §1505 (“Influencing or injuring witness before agencies and committees”); and §1506 (“Theft or alteration of record or process; false bail”). These provisions remain in chapter 73 to this day, with only modest revisions that do not change the need for a pending investigation or proceeding.
- ↑ §31(a), 64 Stat. 1018 (adding §1507 in 1950); §1, 70 Stat. 935 (adding §1508 in 1956); §101, 74 Stat. 86 (adding §1509 in 1960); Pub. L. 90–123, §1(a), 81 Stat. 362 (adding §1510 in 1967); §802(a), 84 Stat. 936 (adding §1511 in 1970); §4(a), 96 Stat. 1249 (adding §1512 in 1982); id., at 1250 (adding §1513 in 1982); §7078(a), 102 Stat. 4406 (adding §1516 in 1988); §2503(a), 104 Stat. 4861 (adding §1517 in 1990).
- ↑ The two exceptions are §§1511 and 1512. Section 1511 is a specialized provision, enacted as part of the Organized Crime Control Act of 1970, §802, 84 Stat. 936, which prohibits “conspir[ing] to obstruct the
