The Mann Act and Should Spitzer Resign?
Posted on Tue Mar 11, 2008 at 12:15:13 AM EST
Tags: Eliot Spitzer (all tags)
Update: The New York Times reports the Attorney General authorized the investigation of Spitzer:
The inquiry, like many such investigations, was a delicate one. Because the focus was a high-ranking government official, prosecutors were required to seek the approval of the United States attorney general to proceed. Once they secured that permission, the investigation moved forward.
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The S.D. Florida blog has a post on whether it's right (as opposed to legally permissible) to charge Gov. Eliot Spitzer under the Mann Act (18 USC 2421, 2422 are the possible applicable sections.)
Now, should the feds pursue a simple prostitution case just because the prostitute traveled from state to state? There is nothing to suggest that the prostitute was coerced or was forced into this business (in fact, she was making more per hour than just about every lawyer in town). The original Mann Act of 1910 was really meant to outlaw forced prostitution (and was known as the "White Slave Traffic Act.") Although recent cases have greatly expanded the scope of the Act and the prosecution would be permissible, do you think such a prosecution is appropriate?
Trivia -- The most famous person prosecuted under the Mann Act is probably Charlie Chaplin.
Chaplin was acquitted. I'll add Chuck Berry to the list, although in his case the woman was a minor. [More...]
In Berry's case, the woman was a minor:
In December 1959 following an appearance in El Paso, Berry and his band visited nearby Juarez, Mexico. There he invited a fourteen year old Apache waitress Janice Escalanti from Yuma, Arizona, to work as a hat check girl at his nightclub Berry's Club Bandstand in St. Louis. According to Berry, when he refused her advances she left in a fit of anger. On December 21 Escalanti arrest on a prostitution charge at a local hotel. This incident would lead to Berry being charged with violation of the Mann Act.. This federal statue forbid the transporting a minor across state lines for the purpose of prostitution. Berry was convicted to five years in prison and fined $5,000. An appeal was made based on racial comments made by the presiding judge and a new trial began in October, 1961. Most of the original verdict was upheld and Berry received three years at the Indiana Federal Prison and fined $10,000. Two months later he was transferred to Leavenworth Federal Prison in Kansas. He completed his sentence at the Federal Medical Center in Springfield, Missouri and was released on his birthday October 18, 1963. Chuck Berry was never the same again. He felt he had been hounded by the press and betrayed by the both sides of the legal professional.
Here's more from PBS on the use and abuse of the Mann Act. There's also the story of boxer Jack Johnson.
Let's get real. Gov. Spitzer had trysts with prostitutes. He didn't force anyone into sex. But for the hypocrisy of his being such a holier-than-thou, unyielding prosecutor during his tenure as Attorney General (and before that as a state court prosecutor) would anyone be calling for his head?
If this had happened while he was still Attorney General, New York's top law enforcer, I'd agree the hypocrisy could be enough to call for his resignation. But he's Governor now.
I don't see why Senators like David Vitter and Larry Craig can keep their jobs -- after all, they enact laws -- while Spitzer should have to resign. But for his poor campaign strategy, we could facing the prospect of philanderer Rudy Giuliani as the next President.
There's also the question of whether Spitzer's investigation may have been politically motivated.
Bottom line: I'm not ready to say Spitzer should resign or be charged with a crime. And the Mann Act is overkill. The public has had its day of fun at his expense. He now has to suffer the consequences of hurting and embarrassing his wife and daughters. They are the real victims here, not the public.
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