Seventh Circuit rejects Commerce Clause challenge to federal conviction for intrastate manufacture of child pornography
The opinion was issued in United States v. Blum, No. 07-3154 (7th Cir. July 15, 2008). The court provides this factual background before rejecting the Commerce Clause challenge:
Blum first argues that 18 U.S.C. § 2251(a) violates the Commerce Clause of the United States Constitution as applied to the facts of his case, because the pornography was manufactured at his home in Wisconsin, for his private viewing and possession, and therefore was unrelated to the stream of commerce. The only movement in interstate commerce that is alleged is that the mini-DV tapes were manufactured outside the state of Wisconsin. Blum maintains that the federal government cannot prosecute him for an offense that had no other connection to interstate commerce.
In rejecting the challenge, the court of appeals cited observed: “We therefore join our sister circuits in rejecting the Commerce Clause challenge to the application of the statute to intrastate child pornography.” The opinion provides a list of federal citations in support of this proposition.