Producing False Identification — Interstate commerce nexus

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United States Court of Appeals For the Seventh Circuit

Criminal

Producing False Identification — Interstate commerce nexus

Producing false drivers licenses sufficiently affects interstate commerce.

“We have little difficulty concluding that a rational jury could have found that Spears’s production of a fake driver’s license had a realistic probability of affecting interstate commerce. A fraudulent driver’s license obviously does not confer legal authority to drive, so its production—and by implication, its use—surely influences the safety of people traveling on interstate highways. A driver’s license is also a form of identification for traveling in interstate commerce by air, train, bus, or boat. The federal government has a clear interest in maintaining the safety and integrity of these channels of interstate commerce, and the production and distribution of a fake driver’s license undermines that interest. A driver’s license may be used as identification to purchase regulated goods such as alcohol, tobacco, and firearms that move in interstate commerce, and in connection with interstate banking, cash-delivery, and credit-card transactions.”

Affirmed in part, and Reversed in part.

11-1683 U.S. v. Spears

Appeal from the United States District Court for the Northern District of Indiana, Lozano, J., Sykes, J.