Hoke v. United States

Hoke v. United States
Argued January 7–8, 1913
Decided February 24, 1913
Full case nameEffie Hoke and Basile Economides, Plaintiffs in Error, v. United States
Citations227 U.S. 308 (more)
33 S. Ct. 281; 57 L. Ed. 523; 1913 U.S. LEXIS 2301
Holding
Congress cannot regulate prostitution per se, which is strictly the province of the states, but it can regulate interstate travel for the purposes of prostitution or other "immoral purposes."
Court membership
Chief Justice
Edward D. White
Associate Justices
Joseph McKenna · Oliver W. Holmes Jr.
William R. Day · Horace H. Lurton
Charles E. Hughes · Willis Van Devanter
Joseph R. Lamar · Mahlon Pitney
Case opinion
MajorityMcKenna, joined by unanimous
Laws applied
U.S. Const. art. I, sec. 8, cl. 3

Hoke v. United States, 227 U.S. 308 (1913), was a decision by the United States Supreme Court that held that the United States Congress could not regulate prostitution per se, which was strictly the province of the states. Congress could, however, regulate interstate travel for purposes of prostitution or other "immoral purposes."

The case revolved around an offer to transport women from New Orleans to Beaumont, Texas for the purpose of prostitution. The Supreme Court upheld prosecution under the Mann Act.

See also

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Further reading

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  • Keire, Mara L. (2001). "The Vice Trust: A Reinterpretation of the White Slavery Scare in the United States, 1907-1917". Journal of Social History. 35 (1): 5–41. doi:10.1353/jsh.2001.0089. JSTOR 3789262. S2CID 144256136.
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