UNITED STATES of America, Appellant-Cross-Appellee, v. Rodney MORRISON, Defendant-Appellee-Cross-Appellant.
Docket Nos. 10-1926(L), 10-1951
United States Court of Appeals, Second Circuit
July 16, 2012
Argued: Nov. 9, 2011.
Finally, Zaleski raises a perfunctory, conclusory argument that the District Court erred in denying his motion in the alternative for an order requiring an appraisal of the seized weapons. We deem the argument waived and affirm the District Court‘s order insofar as it refused to require an appraisal. See Niagara Mohawk Power Corp. v. Hudson River-Black River Regulating Dist., 673 F.3d 84, 107 (2d Cir.2012).
CONCLUSION
For the foregoing reasons, we VACATE in part and AFFIRM in part the order of the District Court, and we REMAND for further proceedings consistent with this opinion.
Richard Ware Levitt (Yvonne Shivers and Dean M. Solomon, on the brief), Levitt & Kaizer, New York, NY, for Defendant-Appellee-Cross-Appellant.
Before: CALABRESI, CHIN, and CARNEY, Circuit Judges.
CALABRESI, Circuit Judge:
After a jury convicted him of one count of conspiracy, in violation of the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (“RICO“),
Thе government timely appealed the district court‘s order, arguing that the Golden Feather II decision was not a valid basis for a finding of vagueness in Section 471. Morrison cross-appealed. He seeks, first, affirmance of the district court‘s decision vacating his conspiracy conviction. He also challenges, on a cavalcade of grounds, the district court‘s earlier denials of other motions to dismiss the conspiracy charges against him and/or vacate his conspiracy conviction. Finally, Morrison requests vacatur of his firearm conviction and dismissal of the corresponding charge.
Of the many arguments that the parties have raised, only two warrant extended discussion. The first is the government‘s contention that the district court erred in vacating Morrison‘s conspiracy conviction on the ground of vаgueness. The second is Morrison‘s claim that the CCTA was inapplicable to him given New York‘s “forbearance policy,” under which the State refrained from collecting taxes on cigarette sales transacted on Native American reservations. According to Morrison, this forbearance policy barred his conviction under the CCTA because that statute provides that, in order for a federal prosecution to lie, the state in which the allegedly contraband cigarettes are found must “require” tax stamps to be placed on cigarettes. We reverse the district court‘s order vacating Morrison‘s RICO conspiracy conviction and reject all of Morrison‘s challenges to his convictions.
BACKGROUND
1. The Offense Conduct
Morrison was the managing partner of the Peace Pipe Smoke Shop, which sold cigarettes on the Unkechauge Indian Nation‘s Poospatuck Indian Reservation, in Mastic, New York.1 Peace Pipe‘s revenue
2. The Superseding Indictment
On July 11, 2006, a federal grand jury in the Eastern District of New York returned a Superseding Indictment against Morrison. The Indictment identified Morrison as the leader of a RICO enterprise that, over an eight-year span from October 1996 to September 2004, he and others operated through Peace Pipe. The Indictment contained eleven counts against Morrison, inter alia: (a) conducting and participating in the affairs of an enterprise through a pattern of racketeering activity, in violation of
3. Morrison‘s Multiple Challenges to the Superseding Indictment and Verdict
At the close of the government‘s case, Morrison filed a Fed.R.Crim.P. 29 motion to dismiss the CCTA racketeering acts alleged to support the substantive RICO count. The district court granted Morrison‘s motion, finding that the government‘s evidence failed to establish that the parties who had purchased cigarettes from Morrison subsequently sold them in quantities sufficient to constitute independent violations of the CCTA. Morrison then moved to dismiss on collateral estoppel grounds the same racketeering acts from the RICO conspiracy count, but the court denied that motion. The trial proceeded from there, with the jury ultimately convicting Morrison of one count of RICO conspiracy (Count Two) and one count of unlawful possession of a firearm as a convicted felоn (Count Eight).
Following the verdict, Morrison filed several more motions. The most important of these were motions to dismiss the racketeering acts from the remaining RICO conspiracy count (on the same col-
When our Court decided Golden Feather II, 597 F.3d 115, Morrison filed yet another motion for reconsideration of his RICO conspiracy conviction. In Golden Feather II, we certified two questions to the New York Court of Appeals regarding New York Tax Law Sections 471 and 471-e. 597 F.3d at 127-28. Morrison claimed that our decision to certify indicated that both Section 471 and the CCTA were void for vagueness as applied to his case. The district court agreed with Morrison and, on April 16, 2010, vacated his conviction for RICO conspiracy. See United States v. Morrison, 706 F.Supp.2d 304, 313-14 (E.D.N.Y.2010) (“Morrison II“).
On May 7, 2010, the district court sentenced Morrison solely on the basis of his firearm conviction. Morrison received a sentence of 120 months’ incarceration followed by three years of supervised release. The court also levied a fine of $75,000 and a special assessment of $100.
The government timely appealed the district court‘s April 16, 2010 order vacating Morrison‘s RICO conspiracy convic-
4. The Relevant Statutes and Their Histories
The crucial issues presented by this appeal are closely concerned with the CCTA, and, since the CCTA explicitly incorporates the tax law of the state in which the allegedly “contraband” cigarettes are “found,”
a. The Contraband Cigarette Trafficking Act (CCTA)
At the time of the acts alleged in the Superseding Indictment, the CCTA declared it unlawful “for any person knowingly to ship, transport, receive, possess, sell, distribute, or purchase contraband cigarettes.”
a quantity in excess of 60,000 cigarettes, which bear no evidence of the payment of applicable State cigarette taxes in the State where such cigarettes are found, if such State requires a stamp, impression, or other indication to be placed on packages or other containers of cigarettes to evidence payment of cigarette taxes, and which are in the possession of any person other than [individuals or entities falling within one of four exceptions].
18 U.S.C. § 2341(2) (West 2006).2
b. New York Tax Law § 471
Pursuant to Section 2341(2), state tax laws delineate the parameters of a viola-
There is hereby imposed and shall be paid a tax on all cigarettes possessed in the statе by any person for sale, except that no tax shall be imposed on cigarettes sold under such circumstances that this state is without power to impose such tax.... It shall be presumed that all cigarettes within the state are subject to tax until the contrary is established, and the burden of proof that any cigarettes are not taxable hereunder shall be upon the person in possession thereof.
New York Tax Section 471(2), meanwhile, described the mechanism through which New York collected taxes on all cigarettes that the state has the power to tax. Under this statutory structure, an “agent” advanced money to the State in return for tax stamps, which the agent subsequently applied to each carton of cigarettes in his or her possession. See
c. Dialogue and Disputes Informing Our Interpretation of Section 471
Over the course of more than three decades, all three branches of the New York State government have been engaged in dialogue with each other, with Native American retailers, and with the federal courts regarding the scope of New York‘s power to tax on-reservation cigarette sales. This dialogue has often been complicated, and it has, in some instances, occasioned significant conflict.3
Prior to 1988, despite Supreme Court precedent suggesting that the states could permissibly tax cigarettes that were sold on-reservation to non-Native Americans,4 New York had not attempted to collect taxes on such sales. After the DTF discovered that non-Native Americans were purchasing large quantities of tax-subject cigarettes from on-reservation retailers, however, it promulgated regulations to enforce the collection of taxes on those sales. Shortly after the DTF promulgated these
In 1996, New York State Governor George Pataki announced his intention to enforce the DTF regulations. In 1997, however, he reversed his stance and ordered the DTF to repeal them. Prompting Governor Pataki‘s reversal was a combination of legal barriers presented by tribal immunity and the resistance of New York‘s Native American population. Tribal immunity prevented New York from (a) suing Native American retailers who refused to pay the tax, (b) sending auditors onto reservations to examine retailers’ records, (c) compelling retailers to register their businesses with the state, or (d) requiring retailers to send their records off-reservation. When New York attempted more aggressive enforcement strategies and started intercepting and seizing cigarette shipments headed into reservations, Native Americans resisted. This resulted in civil unrest, personal injuries, and significant interference with public transportation on New York highways. The DTF ultimately repealed its regulations in 1998. Although Governor Pataki subsequently sponsored amendments to the Tax Law that would have permitted on-reservation retailers to sell cigarettes tax-free, the New York legislature never passed such legislation. As a result, Section 471‘s prohibition on unstamped cigarette sales remained in effect.
The New York legislature did, however, enact other amendments tо its cigarette tax laws over the course of the subsequent years. The most important of these, for our purposes, were passed in 2005. Although these amendments were enacted after the offense conduct involved in this case, they formed the immediate backdrop for our Court‘s decision in Golden Feather II, and, in turn, for the district court‘s decision to vacate Morrison‘s RICO conspiracy conviction.
Under Section 471-e, as amended in 2005, “[A]ll cigarettes sold on an Indian reservation to non-members of the nation or tribe or to non-Indians shall be taxed, and evidence of such tax will be by means of an affixed cigarette tax stamp.”
Shortly thereafter, in 2009, New York‘s Fourth Department issued Cayugа I, in which it ruled that: (a) Section 471-e “exclusively governs the imposition of sales and excise taxes on cigarettes sold on a qualified reservation,” 66 A.D.3d at 111, 884 N.Y.S.2d 510, (b) since Section 471-e was not “in effect,” “there [was] no statutory basis for the imposition of a cigarette tax on a qualified reservation,” id. at 110, 884 N.Y.S.2d 510, and (c) consequently, “possession or sales of untaxed cigarettes on qualified reservations [could not] subject the seller or possessor to criminal prosecution,” id.
A conflict soon developed between the Fourth Department and the federal court for the Eastern District of New York concerning New York‘s authority to tax on-reservation cigarette sales to non-tribal members. In City of New York v. Golden Feather Smoke Shop, Inc., No. 08-cv-3966, 2009 WL 2612345 (E.D.N.Y. Aug. 25, 2009) (“Golden Feather I“), the City of New York sued a series of on-reservation cigarette retailers in federal court, seeking injunctive relief, penalties, and damages under the CCTA. The district court granted the City‘s motion for a preliminary injunction. Id. at *1. In doing so, the Golden Feather I court determined that “the New York Court of Appeals would reject the majority‘s reasoning in Cayuga [I] and conclude that § 471 imposes a tax on reservation sales of cigarettes to non-Tribe members.” Id. at *29. The district court thus made its own interpretation of Section 471, and, under this interpretation criminal prosecutions of Native American retailers who sold untaxed cigarettes on-reservation to non-tribal members were permitted. The defendants in Golden
(1) Does
N.Y. Tax Law § 471-e , either by itself or in combination with the provisions of§ 471 , impose a tax on cigarettes sold on Native American reservations when some or all of those cigarettes may be sold to persons other than members of the reservation‘s nation or tribe?(2) If the answer to Question 1 is “no,” does
N.Y. Tax Law § 471 alone impose a tax on cigarettes sold on Native American reservations when some or all of those cigarettes may be sold to persons other than members of the reservation‘s nation or tribe?
Id. at 127-28. In certifying, we noted that oral arguments in the Cayuga suit were pending before the New York Court of Appeals and, as a result, New York‘s highest court might soon pass on the relevant issues. See Golden Feather II, 597 F.3d at 127.
On August 20, 2010, we recalled these questions as moot in light of the Court of Appeals’ decision in Cayuga Indian Nation v. Gould, 14 N.Y.3d 614, 904 N.Y.S.2d 312, 930 N.E.2d 233 (2010) (“Cayuga II“), and intervening amendments to the New York cigarette tax laws. We then remanded Golden Feather to the district court for further proceedings. See Order, City of New York v. Golden Feather Smoke Shop, No. 09-3942-cv (2d Cir. Aug. 20, 2010).
In Cayuga II, the New York Court of Appeals ruled that there was “no question that Tax Law § 471 generally imposes a sales tax on cigarettes sold in New York.” 14 N.Y.3d at 647, 904 N.Y.S.2d 312, 930 N.E.2d 233. The court observed that Sec-
DISCUSSION
I.
The first of two questions calling for discussion is whether the district court erred in concluding that our certification of questions to the New York Court of Appeals in Golden Feather II, 597 F.3d 115, required that Morrison‘s RICO conspiracy conviction be vacated on vagueness grounds. From the district court‘s perspective, our decision to certify questions regarding Section 471 to the New York Court of Appeals meant that this provision did not give constitutionally sufficient notice to potential criminal defendants. As a result, the district court reasoned, Morrison‘s conviction for conspiracy to violate the CCTA could not stand, since the con-viction required a violation of Section 471. Morrison II, 706 F.Supp.2d at 313. In support of its decision vacating Morrison‘s conspiracy conviction, the court wrotе:
Tellingly the Circuit, in framing the second question for certification, asked whether ”
§ 471 alone impose[s] a tax on cigarettes sold on Native American reservations when some or all of those cigarettes may be sold to persons other than members of the reservation‘s nation or tribe?” That question, when viewed in conjunction with the explanation that “[c]ertification ... should be done sparingly, mindful that it is our job to predict how the New York Court of Appeals would decide the issues before us,” compels the conclusion that the Circuit perceives the applicability of§ 471 to on-reservation sales as unsettled and ambiguous, i.e. not self-evident nor predictable from a simple reading of the section. Also significant is the Circuit‘s query whether the absence of regulations setting forth a collection mechanism may be equated with “circumstances that [render New York] without power to impose such tax,” referencing the excepting language found in§ 471 . Id. at 312-13 (alterations in original) (internal citations omitted).
We hold first that the district court‘s vacatur and dismissal rests on an erroneous interpretation of Golden Feather II. We hold also that the factors that prompted certification in Golden Feather II do not justify (a) the district court‘s ruling that
We review de novo a district court‘s ruling that a statute is unconstitutionally vague. See Arriaga v. Mukasey, 521 F.3d 219, 222 (2d Cir.2008). “As generally stated, the void-for-vagueness doctrine requires that a penal statute define the criminal offense with sufficient definiteness that ordinary people can understand what conduct is prohibited and in a manner that does not encourage arbitrary and discriminatory enforcement.” Kolender v. Lawson, 461 U.S. 352, 357, 103 S.Ct. 1855, 75 L.Ed.2d 903 (1983) (citing, inter alia, Smith v. Goguen, 415 U.S. 566, 94 S.Ct. 1242, 39 L.Ed.2d 605 (1974); Grayned v. City of Rockford, 408 U.S. 104, 92 S.Ct. 2294, 33 L.Ed.2d 222 (1972)).
After reviewing the arguments rаised by the parties regarding the presence or absence of New York‘s statutory authority to tax on-reservation sales of cigarettes to non-tribal members, our Court in Golden Feather II assessed the prudence of issuing a ruling in the case before it. A reading of the relevant portions of Golden Feather II demonstrates that our concerns related there—considered singly or together—do not raise the specter of vagueness with respect to Section 471.
We framed our inquiry with reference to our opinion in O‘Mara v. Town of Wappinger, 485 F.3d 693 (2d Cir.2007). We explained that “[o]ur decision to certify unsettled legal questions [was] based on, among other factors: (1) the absence of authoritative state court decisions; (2) the importance of the issue to the state; and (3) the capacity of certification to resolve the litigation.” Golden Feather II, 597 F.3d at 126 (quoting O‘Mara, 485 F.3d at 698).
With regard to the first of the O‘Mara criteria, Golden Feather II surveyed New York law, noting that the New York Court of Appeals “ha[d] not spoken directly on the issue of the applicability of
In Golden Feather II we, in effect, predicted—correctly, as it turns out—that the New York Court of Appeals would decide differently from the Fourth Department in Cayuga I. And the reasons we thought this would happen substantially undercut Morrison‘s contention that our decision to certify reflected concerns about the statute‘s vagueness. In certifying, we observed that “there are a number of factors that may persuade the Court of Appeals in its review of Cayuga to adopt the rationale of Judge Peradotto‘s dissent [in Cayuga I].” Golden Feather II, 597 F.3d at 126. Most
The plain language of
§ 471 is that a tax is “imposed ... on all cigarettes possessed in the state by any person for sale” except for cigarettes “sold under such circumstances that this state is without power” to tax.N.Y. Tax Law § 471 . The language of§ 471-e , however, only gives the state a method by which to collect the taxes actually imposed by§ 471 . Id.
Indeed, far from suggesting that “the Circuit perceive[d] the applicability of
With regard to the second O‘Mara criterion, Golden Feather II noted that a variety of state-level actors—“the New York State courts, the New York Legislature, the Department of Taxation and Finance, and ... New York‘s Governor“—had addressed the “question оf taxing cigarette sales on reservation lands” with “varying outcomes.” 597 F.3d at 127. The existence of these varying outcomes, in turn, weighed in favor of certifying to the New York Court of Appeals, which was “in a far better position” to resolve the conflict. Id. In deferring to the Court of Appeals, our Court did not suggest that the question of Section 471‘s applicability to on-reservation sales was either vague or hard to resolve. Indeed, as noted earlier, we indicated that we were quite capable of ruling on the issue should the New York Court of Appeals decline to accept certification. Our certification simply acknowledged that the New York Court of Appeals, being the ultimate arbiter of New York law, is the optimal body to settle state law questions, particularly when these questions are of high politiсal significance within the State.
Finally, with respect to the third O‘Mara criterion, our Court noted that the questions certified were “purely legal” and, in turn, that “[a]n answer from the New York Court of Appeals ... [would] in all likelihood end this portion of the litigation.” Id. Our analysis under this prong, like our analysis under the preceding prongs, did not speak to vagueness. Rather, the analysis sounded in our concerns with achieving judicial economy and with respecting the supremacy of New York‘s highest court on matters of New York law.
In sum, Golden Feather II‘s decision to certify questions regarding Section 471 to the New York Court of Appeals did not indicate that that statute failed to describe “with sufficient definiteness that ordinary people can understand what conduct is prohibited and in a manner that does not encourage arbitrary and discriminatory еnforcement.” Kolender, 461 U.S. at 357, 103 S.Ct. 1855. Indeed, certification stemmed from our understanding that, while we could rule on the issues before us, doing so was not prudent. Thus, while there may be cases in which a decision to
II.
The second issue meriting discussion is whether Morrison could be validly convicted under the CCTA—which criminalizes the sale of cigarettes lacking “stamp[s], impression[s], or other indication[s]” that are “require[d]” by the state in which the cigarettes are found.
We begin with the ordinary meaning of the word “requires” as used in the CCTA. Significantly, the Ninth Circuit and the Western District of Washington have interpreted the CCTA‘s use of “requires” as referring to the law as written.7 These courts did not construe the relevant language in the context of a “forbearance policy” like New York‘s. But, a district court within our circuit has done just that,
There is, of course, no question that the conduct at issue here was made unlawful by the terms of New York‘s cigarette tax laws. At the time of the events that form the basis of Morrison‘s prosecution, New York State imposed a tax on all cigarettes sold within the state, with an exception for those sales where the state was “without power to impose such a tax.”
To the extent that New York‘s forbearance policy might be said to create some ambiguity regarding the scope of Native American cigarette retailers’ tax liability for on-reservation cigarette sales, Morrison‘s actions went far beyond the sort of conduct that might be in any area of ambiguity. He engaged in a substantial wholesale business, with some 50,000 “Big Customers” who together purchased more than $138 million in cigarettes from 1999 through 2004. He encouraged these sales by distributing fliers throughout New York City. All the while, he knew that at least some of these “Big Customers” were re-selling the cigarettes off-reservation. And, as the New York Court of Appeals has ruled, this kind of “large-scale cigarette bootlegging,” involving “the wholesale distribution of untaxed cigarettes destined for off-reservation sales,” Cayuga II, 14 N.Y.3d at 652–53, 904 N.Y.S.2d 312, 930 N.E.2d 233, constituted the core conduct that Section 471 criminalized. Id. at 650-51, 653, 904 N.Y.S.2d 312, 930 N.E.2d 233.
There is, however, one additional issue we should consider before finally concluding that the CCTA applies to Morrison. Congress designed the CCTA to provide federal suppоrt to the states in enforcing their tax laws. See
In light of the CCTA‘s design as a “back-up” measure, a defendant might ar-
As noted above, New York‘s DTF, in 1988, instituted regulations to govern the collection of taxes from non-Native American purchasers who bought cigarettes on reservations from Native American retailers. When the Native American retailers threatened a legal challenge to the regulations, the DTF withheld implementing these regulations. Although the Supreme Court ultimately ruled that the regulatiоns were legal, the DTF was still effectively powerless to enforce them. It was rendered powerless because, even after long negotiations with the retailers, the DTF was unable to compel or convince the retailers to participate in its auditing scheme. And when—in the face of the non-cooperation of Native American retailers—New York began a program of highway interdiction, its actions were disastrously unsuccessful, “result[ing] in civil unrest, personal injuries and significant interference with public transportation on the State highways.” Morrison I, 596 F.Supp.2d at 672 (quoting N.Y. Ass‘n of Convenience Stores v. Urbach, 275 A.D.2d 520, 522-23, 712 N.Y.S.2d 220, 222 (3d Dep‘t 2000)). It was only after these failed interdiction efforts that Governor Pataki ordered the repeal of the DTF reg-
In view of this history, the forbearance policy in no way signaled New York‘s choice not to enforce its tax laws when such enforcement would be possible. Rather, the policy represented New York‘s beleaguered concession to the difficulty and danger of state-level enforcement, the complex jurisdictional issues surrounding reservation-based cigarette sales, and the politically combustible nature of bootlegging prosecutions. Congress enacted the CCTA to provide federal support to states struggling with circumstances precisely like those that prompted New York‘s forbearance. Accordingly, we conclude that by sustaining Morrison‘s conviction, we are in no way undercutting the CCTA‘s back-up role, but rather, are giving fullest effect to the CCTA‘s delicate balancing of state and federal interests.
III.
Morrison‘s consolidated brief raises eight additional arguments: first, thаt Cayuga II barred the government from using
CONCLUSION
Accordingly, we reverse the district court‘s vacatur of Morrison‘s RICO conspiracy conviction, affirm his conviction under
Notes
impose a nondiscriminatory tax on non-Indian customers of Indian retailers doing business on the reservation. Such a tax may be valid even if it seriously disadvantages or eliminates the Indian retailer‘s business with non-Indians. And the State may impose at least “minimal” burdens on the Indian retailer to aid in enforcing and collecting the tax. Id. at 151, 100 S.Ct. 2069 (footnote omitted).
As you know, in the past the Department has opposed legislation like S. 1487. This opposition existed for two valid reasons. First, the Department believed that before there is a significant expansion of federal criminal jurisdiction into an area hitherto reserved to the states, there should be a strong showing that the states have made significant, but unsuccessful, attempts to deal with the problem involved. In the past, the evidence had been that the states most affected by cigarette smuggling had not made significant attempts to deal with the problem. Second, past administrations have not wanted to incur the costs, both investigative and prosecutorial, that would go with taking on primary enforcement responsibility for the collection of state cigarette taxes from interstate distributors and sellers of cigarettes. It was believed that passage of legislation like S. 1487 would create strong pressure for the assumption of that responsibility.
S.Rep. 95-962 at 11 , reprinted in 1978 U.S.C.C.A.N. 5518, 5526.