
Extracted Text
Case 22-1426, Document 109-1, 09/17/2024, 3634097, Page16 of 26
statute as it is written.”** If the statute “is ambiguous or contains no
express command regarding retroactivity, a reviewing court must
determine whether applying the statute to antecedent conduct would
create presumptively impermissible retroactive effects.”
Here, the inquiry is straightforward. In 2003, Congress
amended § 3283 to provide: “No statute of limitations that would
otherwise preclude prosecution for an offense involving the sexual or
physical abuse, or kidnaping, of a child under the age of 18 years shall
preclude such prosecution during the life of the child.”*¢ The text of
§ 3283—that no statute of limitations that would otherwise preclude
prosecution of these offenses will apply—plainly requires that it
prevent the application of any statute of limitations that would
otherwise apply to past conduct.
The statutory text makes clear that Congress intended to extend
the time to bring charges of sexual abuse for pre-enactment conduct as
the prior statute of limitations was inadequate. This is enough to
conclude that the PROTECT Act’s amendment to § 3283 applies to
Maxwell’s conduct as charged in the Indictment.
2 In re Enter. Mortg. Acceptance Co., LLC, Sec. Litig., 391 F.3d 401, 406 (2d Cir. 2004) (citing
Landgraf, 511 U.S. at 280).
2 Weingarten, 865 F.3d at 55 (citation and internal quotation marks omitted).
26 PROTECT Act, Pub. L. No. 108-21, § 202, 117 Stat. 650, 660 (2003).
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