• Source: United States v. Salerno

      • United States v. Salerno, 481 U.S. 739 (1987), was a United States Supreme Court decision that determined that the Bail Reform Act of 1984 was constitutional, which permitted the federal courts to detain an arrestee prior to trial if the government could prove that the individual was potentially a danger to society. The Act was held to violate neither the United States Constitution's Due Process Clause of the Fifth Amendment nor its Excessive Bail Clause of the Eighth Amendment.


      Background


      The case was brought up when the American Mafia member Anthony Salerno was arrested and indicted for violating the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act.


      Decision


      Chief Justice Rehnquist wrote the opinion for the majority. Justice Marshall and Justice Stevens each wrote dissenting opinions.
      Salerno is famous for expounding the "no set of circumstances" test. Challengers who bring a facial challenge to a statute claim the statute is "void on its face" and so should be declared unconstitutional. That is an extremely high burden, as the challenger must show that no set of circumstances exists under which the statute would be valid.
      The Court, however, recognized the well-established overbreadth doctrine, which provides a different standard for facial challenges of laws that are alleged to violate the First Amendment.


      Aftermath


      In October 1988, Salerno was convicted and sentenced to 70 years in prison, including a $376,000 fine, and ordered to forfeit half of the racketeering proceeds (estimated to be $30 million).


      See also


      List of United States Supreme Court cases, volume 481
      List of United States Supreme Court cases
      Lists of United States Supreme Court cases by volume
      List of United States Supreme Court cases by the Rehnquist Court


      References




      Sources


      Goldkamp, John S. (1985). "Danger and Detention: A Second Generation of Bail Reform". Journal of Criminal Law and Criminology. 76 (1): 1–74. doi:10.2307/1143353. JSTOR 1143353.
      Eason, Michael J. (1988). "Eighth Amendment: Pretrial Detention: What Will Become of the Innocent?". Journal of Criminal Law and Criminology. 78 (4): 1048–1079. doi:10.2307/1143417. JSTOR 1143417.
      Howard, John B. Jr. (1989). "The Trial of Pretrial Dangerousness: Preventive Detention after United States v. Salerno". Virginia Law Review. 75 (3): 639–679. doi:10.2307/1073254. JSTOR 1073254.


      External links


      Text of United States v. Salerno, 481 U.S. 739 (1987) is available from: Justia Library of Congress Oyez (oral argument audio)

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