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Hoke v. United States

Supreme Court of the United States · 1913 · Constitutional Law

Constitutional LawCommerce ClauseCommerce Clauseinterstate commercetransportation of personsWhite Slave ActMann Actpolice power

Facts

Effie Hoke was charged with knowingly persuading, inducing, and enticing a woman to go from New Orleans, Louisiana, to Beaumont, Texas, in interstate commerce for the purpose of prostitution. Basile Economides was charged with aiding and assisting Hoke in that effort, and additional counts involved another woman, including one under eighteen years old. The indictment was brought under sections 2, 3, and 4 of the 1910 Act prohibiting interstate transportation, inducement, or procurement of transportation of women and girls for prostitution, debauchery, or other immoral purposes. The defendants primarily challenged the statute as unconstitutional, arguing that regulation of prostitution belonged to the states and was beyond Congress's commerce power.

Issue

Whether Congress, under its power to regulate commerce among the several states, may criminalize the interstate transportation of women or girls, or the inducement or assistance of such transportation, for prostitution or other immoral purposes. More specifically, the question was whether the 1910 Act was an unconstitutional invasion of powers reserved to the states over morals and police regulation.

Rule

Congress's power to regulate commerce among the several states is complete in itself and extends to the interstate transportation of persons as well as property. As an incident to that power, Congress may adopt means that are not only necessary but convenient to its exercise, even when those means have the quality of police regulations, including forbidding interstate transportation used as a facility for immoral purposes.

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One of 10 multiple-choice questions for this case. Pick an answer to see why.

Lena Ortiz in Kansas City, Missouri, convinces Ava Nolan to travel by bus to Tulsa, Oklahoma, where Lena has arranged for Ava to work in a prostitution ring. Congress has enacted a statute making it a federal crime to knowingly induce a woman to travel in interstate commerce for prostitution.

If Lena argues that Congress cannot regulate this conduct because prostitution is a matter of local morals reserved to the states, what is the strongest response?

Explanation. The majority held that commerce among the states includes transportation of persons as well as property. Congress's commerce power is complete in itself, and as an incident to that power Congress may adopt convenient means, even if they have the quality of police regulations, to forbid interstate transportation used for immoral purposes. The statute is valid because it targets interstate movement, not because Congress has a general police power over morals.