Ninth Circuit panel finds retroactive part of SORNA unconstitutional

9-11-2009 National:

From a few e-mails I have received, the key here is, interpreting "individuals who were adjudicated juvenile delinquents," and not applying the term "adjudicated" to broadly. With that said,

From Sentencing Law & Policy:

The Ninth Circuit, in an lengthy panel opinion authored by Judge Reinhardt, today declares in US v. Juvenile Male, No. 07-30290 (9th Cir. Sept. 10, 2009) (available here) that part of the federal Sex Offender Registration and Notification Act is unconstitutional as applied to former juvenile offenders. Here is a key paragraph from the start of the unanimous panel opinion:

We must decide as a matter of first impression — in our court and in any other circuit court — whether the retroactive application of SORNA’s provision covering individuals who were adjudicated juvenile delinquents because of the commission of certain sex offenses before SORNA’s passage violates the Ex Post Facto Clause of the United States Constitution. In light of the pervasive and severe new and additional disadvantages that result from the mandatory registration of former juvenile offenders and from the requirement that such former offenders report in person to law enforcement authorities every 90 days for 25 years, and in light of the confidentiality that has historically attached to juvenile proceedings, we conclude that the retroactive application of SORNA’s provisions to former juvenile offenders is punitive and, therefore, unconstitutional.

For a host of reasons, this ruling seems likely to get considerable attention and scrutiny from federal officials in other branches as well as perhaps from the full Ninth Circuit and/or the Supreme Court. And I hope to have time to comment on the ruling in some detail once I get a chance to read it closely tonight. SL&P