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Constitutional Law Keyed to Choper
Scarborough v. United States
Citation:
431 U.S. 563 (1977)Facts
In 1972, Richard Scarborough was convicted in a Virginia state court of narcotics offenses, making him a convicted felon. Following his conviction, law enforcement officers searched his home and discovered four firearms. The government established that all four firearms had been manufactured outside the state of Virginia and had therefore traveled in interstate commerce at some point before coming into Scarborough’s possession. Scarborough was subsequently charged with violating the Gun Control Act of 1968, which prohibits convicted felons from possessing firearms “in commerce or affecting commerce.” Scarborough challenged his conviction, arguing that the statute required proof of a contemporaneous connection to interstate commerce at the time of possession, not merely that the firearms had previously traveled in interstate commerce.
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