SUPREME COURT OF THE UNITED STATES
Amy Coney Barrett
United States – Appellant
Versus
Hansen – Respondent
Volume 599 U. S. Part 1 Pages 762–812
OFFICIAL REPORTS OF
THE SUPREME COURT June 23, 2023
Page Proof Pending Publication
REBECCA A. WOMELDORF reporter of decisions
NOTICE: This preliminary print is subject to formal revision before the bound volume is published. Users are requested to notify the Reporter of Decisions, Supreme Court of the United States, Washington, D.C. 20543, pio@supremecourt.gov, of any typographical or other formal errors. 762 OCTOBER TERM, 2022
Syllabus
UNITED STATES v. HANSEN certiorari to the united states court of appeals for the ninth circuit No. 22–179. Argued March 27, 2023—Decided June 23, 2023 Respondent Helaman Hansen promised hundreds of noncitizens a path to U. S. citizenship through “adult adoption.” But that was a scam. Though there is no path to citizenship through “adult adoption,” Hansen earned nearly $2 million from his scheme. The United States charged Hansen with, inter alia, violating 8 U. S. C. § 1324(a)(1)(A)(iv), which forbids “encourag[ing] or induc[ing] an alien to come to, enter, or reside in the United States, knowing or in reckless disregard of the fact that such [activity] is or will be in violation of law.” Hansen was convicted and moved to dismiss the clause (iv) charges on First Amendment over- breadth grounds. The District Court rejected Hansen's argument, but the Ninth Circuit concluded that clause (iv) was unconstitutionally overbroad. Held: Because § 1324(a)(1)(A)(iv) forbids only the purposeful solicitation Page Proof and facilitation of specifcPending Publication acts known to violate is not unconstitutionally overbroad. Pp. 769–785. federal law, the clause
(a) Hansen's First Amendment overbreadth challenge rests on the
claim that clause (iv) punishes so much protected speech that it cannot
be applied to anyone, including him. A court will hold a statute facially
invalid under the overbreadth doctrine if the law “prohibits a substan-
tial amount of protected speech” relative to its “plainly legitimate
sweep.” United States v. Williams,
Syllabus
among the “most common” verbs used to denote solicitation and facilita-
tion. 2 W. LaFave, Substantive Criminal Law § 13.2(a). Their special-
ized usage is displayed in the federal criminal code as well as the crimi-
nal laws of every State. If the challenged statute uses those terms as
they are typically understood in the criminal law, an overbreadth chal-
lenge would be hard to sustain. Pp. 771–773.
(2)
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