United States v. Kemble

I concur in Judge McLAUGHLIN’S interpretation of the Hobbs Act. But I do not agree that defendants are entitled to a judgment of acquittal. On the basis of the record before us, I would reverse the judgments of conviction and grant both defendants a new trial.

The statute itself, viewed in the context of the criminal law generally, is clear. By resort to the apparent intent of Congress, the majority has injected into the Act a meaning which its language does not reasonably import. In so doing, they have cast aside the salutary rule that criminal statutes are to be strictly construed. See…