Opinion of the Court
whether Congress used “encourage” and “induce” as terms of art referring to criminal solicitation and facilitation (thus capturing only a narrow band of speech) or instead as those terms are used in everyday conversation (thus encompassing a broader swath). An overbreadth challenge obviously has better odds on the latter view.
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We start with some background on solicitation and facilitation. Criminal solicitation is the intentional encouragement of an unlawful act. ALI, Model Penal Code §5.02(1), p. 364 (1985) (MPC); 2 W. LaFave, Substantive Criminal Law §11.1 (3d ed. 2022) (LaFave). Facilitation—also called aiding and abetting—is the provision of assistance to a wrongdoer with the intent to further an offense’s commission. See, e.g., Twitter, Inc. v. Taamneh, 598 U. S. ___, ___–___ (2023) (slip op., at 13–14). While the crime of solicitation is complete as soon as the encouragement occurs, see LaFave §11.1, liability for aiding and abetting requires that a wrongful act be carried out, see id., §13.2(a). Neither solicitation nor facilitation requires lending physical aid; for both, words may be enough. Reves v. Ernst & Young, 507 U. S. 170, 178 (1993) (one may aid and abet by providing “ ‘assistance rendered by words, acts, encouragement, support, or presence’ ”); MPC §5.02(2), at 365 (solicitation may take place through words or conduct); LaFave §11.1(c) (same). Both require an intent to bring about a particular unlawful act. See, e.g., Hicks v. United States, 150 U. S. 442, 449 (1893) (“[W]ords of encouragement and abetting must” be used with “the intention as respects the effect to be produced”). And both are longstanding criminal theories targeting those who support the crimes of a principal wrongdoer. See Central Bank of Denver, N. A. v. First Interstate Bank of Denver, N. A., 511 U. S. 164, 181 (1994); LaFave §11.1(a).
The terms “encourage” and “induce” are among the “most
