Professional Documents
Culture Documents
No. 15-2145
Appellant,
v.
EDWIN MALDONADO-BURGOS,
Defendant, Appellee.
Before
Snchez Valle, 136 S. Ct. 1863, 1874 (2016) is far from typical.
(1st Cir. 1981), blazed a trail that we must follow in this case.
the indictment.
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How the Case Got Here1
sexual activity that was criminal under Puerto Rico law. Maldonado
Place, 693 F.3d 219, 227 (1st Cir. 2012). We start with the
statutory text. See United States v. Godin, 534 F.3d 51, 56 (1st
1
In this appeal from the district court's dismissal of an
indictment, we glean the factual background from the well-pleaded
facts in the indictment itself. See United States v. Nippon Paper
Indus., 109 F.3d 1, 2 (1st Cir. 1997).
2
Meanwhile, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico charged Maldonado
in connection with this conduct. At oral argument, his attorney
represented to us that Maldonado has since pled guilty to the
Puerto Rico charges and was awaiting sentencing as of that date.
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such individual engage in prostitution, or in any sexual activity
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the years, Congress gradually increased Puerto Rico's autonomy
over its local affairs, id., but "Congress retained major elements
became part of the Federal Relations Act (FRA), see Act of July 3,
U.S. 572, 592-94 (1976). Two years later, the Puerto Rico
Act of July 3, 1952, Pub. L. No. 82-447, 66 Stat. 327; see Cordova,
649 F.2d at 40. The clear congressional purpose behind "the 1950
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of autonomy comparable to that possessed by the States.'" (quoting
analysis.
151 F.2d at 45. The defendant argued that Congress could not have
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committee reports accompanying the passage of the Mann Act, which
Id. (quoting S. Rep. No. 61-886, at 2 (1910); H.R. Rep. No. 61-
47, at 2 (1909)).
does not govern the analysis. Instead, he argues that our later
company that issued the policies agreed with a bank that was the
purposes of the Sherman Act, we must treat Puerto Rico like a state
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or a territory. Id. at 38. The Sherman Act treats territories
of the Puerto Rico Constitution, the Supreme Court had held that
under the Act." Id. at 39. And, after reviewing the events
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extensively into the local affairs of post-Constitutional Puerto
Rico than into the local affairs of a state." Id. at 42. Seeing
to assume that the framers of the Sherman Act, had they been aware
Analysis
even under the Cordova test, Puerto Rico should still be deemed a
2421(a).
States, 158 F.2d 509, 511 (1st Cir. 1946), under the law-of-the-
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us to our decision in United States v. Carrasquillo-Pealoza, 826
F.3d 590, 591 (1st Cir. 2016), where the defendant argued that the
and its progeny cannot alone carry the day. In Cordova, we were
after Shell Co. was decided "so change[d] the legal status of
subsequent events.
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when she entered an unconditional guilty plea and executed a
Co. v. Cumberland Farms Dairy, Inc., 972 F.2d 453, 459 (1st Cir.
1992), and we therefore are not bound by it, see United States v.
the Sherman Act is absent from the Mann Act. We know this, the
defendant's argument that "it could not have been the intent of
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Puerto Rico, that is to say, regulating immorality in general which
For one thing, the Sherman Act and the Mann Act are
Cir. 1898), which dealt with that exact scenario. See Cordova,
United States, 125 F.2d 95, 96 (9th Cir. 1942). Once Hawaii
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achieved statehood, however, that same conduct could no longer
the framers of the Sherman Act, had they been aware of the FRA and
the issue presented in that case whether Puerto Rico and the
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United States are different sovereigns for purposes of the dual-
United States v. Wheeler, 435 U.S. 313, 320 (1978)); see also id.
v. Puerto Rico, 805 F.3d 322, 344 (1st Cir. 2015) (quoting United
States v. Lopez Andino, 831 F.2d 1164, 1172 (1st Cir. 1987)
intent, see Cordova, 649 F.2d at 39, not one of the constitutional
relationship between Puerto Rico and the United States. See Jusino
Mercado v. Puerto Rico, 214 F.3d 34, 40-44 (1st Cir. 2000)
for Puerto Rico differently than for the states but nonetheless
a territory).
(2) The FRA's savings clause, 48 U.S.C. 734, (in the government's
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words) "gives rise to a presumption that [a pre-1952] statute
part, that "[t]he statutory laws of the United States not locally
provided, shall have the same force and effect in Puerto Rico as
not concern us, for those that are "locally inapplicable" apply
our case law. Section 734 is most often invoked when a federal
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Puerto Rico is within the statute's reach. See, e.g., United
734" and holding that the Federal Death Penalty Act applies to
Puerto Rico); United States v. Villarin Gerena, 553 F.2d 723, 724-
not apply to Puerto Rico); Moreno Rios v. United States, 256 F.2d
68, 71-72 (1st Cir. 1958) (holding that the Narcotic Drugs Import
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a local government and its adoption would in no way alter the
Puerto Rico." But Quinones, like all of the other cases citing
provision in the Omnibus Crime Control Act did not apply to Puerto
that the government seizes on in this case, that Congress did not
Quinones to reject the argument that the Federal Death Penalty Act
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should not apply to Puerto Rico because a provision of the Puerto
B. Applying Cordova
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character and aim of the act.'" Jusino Mercado, 214 F.3d at 40
complicates this task," Jusino Mercado, 214 F.3d at 40, and our
between Puerto Rico and the United States would develop in the
decades to come. See id.; Cordova, 649 F.2d at 39. This is such
a case.
Act." Cordova, 649 F.2d at 39. There are "two possible avenues"
because the Mann Act does not expressly indicate that Puerto Rico
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is to be treated as a territory or that transportation that occurs
Fortuo, 670 F.3d 310, 320-23 & n.3 (1st Cir. 2012) (rejecting
argument, based on Cordova, that the Buy American Act (BAA) did
not apply to Puerto Rico just as it did not apply to the states
Mercado, 214 F.3d at 42-43 (quoting Cordova, 649 F.2d at 42). The
disagree.
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The committee reports merely discuss application of the
without mentioning Puerto Rico, and they do not suggest any reason
Corp., 202 F.3d 464, 467-68 & n.4 (1st Cir. 2000) (concluding that
the Defense Base Act (DBA) which covered military bases "in any
said about the committee reports in this case is that they indicate
prevail under the Cordova test. In Shell Co., the Supreme Court
Atl. Cleaners & Dyers v. United States, 286 U.S. 427, 435 (1932)).
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the Sherman Act from which to conclude that Congress intended the
Rico than into the local affairs of a state, see id. at 41-42. So
the full extent of its powers in passing the Mann Act fails in and
added).
must presume that Congress was aware of our holding in Crespo when
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1651(a)(2), and defines "continental United States" as "the
seven years after the Puerto Rico Constitution went into effect,
while simultaneously making it explicit that the DBA did not apply
'continental United States' was added to the [DBA] only seven years
was excluded from the scope of the Act." (citation omitted)). The
same cannot be said for the Mann Act; none of the post-1952
Trafficking Act of 2015, Pub. L. No. 114-22, 303, 129 Stat. 227,
No. 105-314, 106, 112 Stat. 2974, 2977 (amending other language
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For example, in Antilles Cement, we concluded that two
our conclusion that the Act continued to apply to Puerto Rico even
though it did not apply to the states. 670 F.3d at 321. First,
the BAA than its overhauling the BAA yet preserving the law's
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amendments to the Mann Act do not indicate that Congress intended
Puerto Rico than into the local affairs of the states. See
significant bulwark."
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constitutional status, would have intended it to be treated as a
Bd., 426 U.S. at 594; Cordova, 649 F.2d at 42, we have not found
States that took place in the decades since the passage of the
the island.10
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