Feds seething after ruling lets sex trafficker walk free

[Jim Burton]

https://reason.com/2025/10/29/man-accus ... overreach/

In its zeal to ratchet up more sex trafficking prosecutions, the Department of Justice (DOJ) overreached—and it backfired. Now, a seeming sexual predator may escape conviction because the feds couldn't just leave local crime to local authorities.

The DOJ tried to invoke jurisdiction because the potential predator—an adult man who tried to pay his friend's teen daughter for sex on multiple occasions—used money, used a car that was made out of state, and drove on a road.

No dice, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 8th Circuit said in an October 2 decision. Allowing this would put us on the path to letting Congress usurp police power retained by the states and federalize virtually any crime.