United States v. Steven Michael Adams

In United States v. McCoy, 328 F.3d 1114 (9th Cir.2003), we entertained an “as applied” constitutional challenge to 18 U.S.C. § 2252 (a)(4)(B) and held that Congress lacks the power under the Commerce Clause to criminalize the “simple intrastate possession of home-grown child pornography not intended for distribution or exchange.” 323 F.3d at 1122-23. Now we must answer the question left undecided in McCoy : whether 18 U.S.C. § 2252 (a)(4)(B), on its face, is an unconstitutional exercise of congressional power. We hold that it is not.

We also hold that the definition of “sexually explicit conduct” found at 18 U.S.C. § 2256 (2)(A), on its face, is not substantially overbroad under the First Amendment. Nor is the statute void for vagueness. We affirm the conviction that underlies these challenges.

I

In October 1999, San Diego County sheriffs deputies searched the home of Defendant-Appellant Steven Adams after receiving a report that Adams had been fraternizing with children. At the time, Adams was a sex-offender on state probation and was required to submit to such searches. In the course of the search, deputies seized a billyclub, pornographic pictures of adults,…