Who Cares What Congress Thinks? 
Not James Mann: The Mann Act’s Marbury Moment

Abstract

In Caminetti v. United States, the U.S. Supreme Court employed a severely puritanical approach — on the facts and on the law — to statutory interpretation. Conversely, the opinion for the Court in Caminetti triggered an intriguingly indulgent legislative-judicial exchange about the role of the courts in statutory interpretation. This little essay begins with a quick look at Caminetti and the statute it interpreted, proceeds through a similarly speedy examination of that indulgent post-decision exchange, and concludes with a few questions.

Keywords: statutory interpretation, plain meaning, legislative history, intent, purpose, Holy Trinity, Mann Act, William R. Day, Joseph McKenna