Caminetti v. United States

Caminetti v. United States
Argued November 13–14, 1916
Decided January 15, 1917
Full case nameF. Drew Caminetti v. United States; Maury I. Diggs v. United States; L.T. Hays v. United States
Citations242 U.S. 470 (more)
37 S. Ct. 192; 61 L. Ed. 442
Case history
PriorDiggs v. United States, 220 F. 545 (9th Cir.), cert. granted, 238 U.S. 637 (1915). Hays v. United States, 231 F. 106 (8th Cir.), cert. granted, 241 U.S. 674 (1916).
Holding
The Mann Act applied not only to purposes of prostitution but also to other noncommercial consensual sexual liaisons. Thus, consensual extramarital sex falls within the genre of "immoral practice."
Court membership
Chief Justice
Edward D. White
Associate Justices
Joseph McKenna · Oliver W. Holmes Jr.
William R. Day · Willis Van Devanter
Mahlon Pitney · James C. McReynolds
Louis Brandeis · John H. Clarke
Case opinions
MajorityDay, joined by Holmes, Van Devanter, Pitney, Brandeis
DissentMcKenna, joined by White, Clarke
McReynolds took no part in the consideration or decision of the case.
Laws applied
White-Slave Traffic (Mann) Act, ch. 395, 36 Stat. 825 (1910) (codified as amended at 18 U.S.C. §§ 2421-2424).
Abrogated by
Child Sexual Abuse & Pornography Act of 1986, Pub. L. No. 99-628, § 5(b)(1), 100 Stat. 3510–11 (in part)

Caminetti v. United States, 242 U.S. 470 (1917), was a United States Supreme Court case involving Farley Drew Caminetti and the Mann Act. The Court decided that the Mann Act applied not only to purposes of coercion and prostitution but also to noncommercial consensual sexual liaisons. Thus, consensual extramarital sex falls within the definition of "immoral sex."