Banana Republic or Legalistic Lawlessness?

NEIL H. BUCHANAN

UF Levin College of Law professor and economist Neil H. Buchanan reflects, based on current trends, on what the legal system in the United States will look in a few years. Specifically, Buchanan considers whether the country will become a “banana republic” or whether instead we will see a system of “legalistic lawlessness.”

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United States v. Nikolla

Docket: 17-2206

Opinion Date: February 19, 2020

Judge: Leval

Areas of Law: Criminal Law

Nikolla and two codefendants were charged in connection with the extortion of restaurant proprietors and other businesses in and around Astoria, Queens in 2012-2013. A third superseding indictment specifically charged the defendants with threatening physical violence. Nikolla pleaded guilty to two counts of Hobbs Act extortion conspiracy, 18 U.S.C. 1951(a), one count of threatening physical violence in furtherance of an extortion plan, 18 U.S.C. 1951(a), and one count of brandishing a firearm during and in relation to, or in furtherance of, a “crime of violence” under 18 U.S.C. 924(c)(1)(A)(ii). Nikolla was sentenced principally to 216 months; the “brandishing” count increased the mandatory penalty from five years to seven years of imprisonment. The Second Circuit affirmed, rejecting Nikolla’s challenge to his section 924(c) conviction. The predicate offense for that conviction — Hobbs Act threat of violence in furtherance of extortion under 18 U.S.C. 1951(a) — does qualify as a “crime of violence” under the Elements Clause of section 924(c). The court noted that Nikolla conceded in the district court that this offense constituted a “crime of violence” under section 924(c).