United States of America v. HENRY THOMAS STANDING ELK, Jr.

11-30323Court of Appeals for the Ninth CircuitJun 27, 2014

Full text

NOT FOR PUBLICATION
UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS
FOR THE NINTH CIRCUIT
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA,
Plaintiff - Appellee,
v.
HENRY THOMAS STANDING ELK, Jr.,
Defendant - Appellant.
No. 11-30323
D.C. No. 4:11-cr-00053-SEH
MEMORANDUM*
Appeal from the United States District Court
for the District of Montana
Sam E. Haddon, District Judge, Presiding
Submitted June 25, 2014**
Before: HAWKINS, TALLMAN, and NGUYEN, Circuit Judges.
Henry Thomas Standing Elk, Jr., appeals from the district court’s judgment
and challenges his guilty-plea conviction for failure to register as a sex offender
under the Sex Offender Registration and Notification Act (“SORNA”), in violation
of 18 U.S.C. § 2250(a). We have jurisdiction under 28 U.S.C. § 1291, and we
FILED
JUN 27 2014
MOLLY C. DWYER, CLERK
U.S. COURT OF APPEALS
* This disposition is not appropriate for publication and is not precedent
except as provided by 9th Cir. R. 36-3.
** The panel unanimously concludes this case is suitable for decision
without oral argument. See Fed. R. App. P. 34(a)(2).

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affirm.
Standing Elk first argues that the district court should have dismissed the
indictment because Montana had not implemented SORNA at the time of his
offense. This argument is foreclosed. See United States v. Elk Shoulder, 738 F.3d
948, 954-55 (9th Cir. 2013), cert. denied, 134 S. Ct. 1920 (2014) (enforcement of
SORNA is not dependent on a state’s implementation of the administrative portion
of SORNA); United States v. Elkins, 683 F.3d 1039, 1046 (9th Cir. 2012) (same).
Standing Elk next argues that Congress lacked authority under the
Commerce Clause to require him to register. This argument is also foreclosed. See
United States v. Kebodeaux, 133 S. Ct. 2496, 2500 (2013) (concluding that “the
Necessary and Proper Clause grants Congress adequate power to enact SORNA
and to apply it” to a defendant convicted of a federal sex crime who was subject to
federal sex offender registration requirements at the time of SORNA’s enactment
in 2006); Elk Shoulder, 738 F.3d at 959 (same).
AFFIRMED.
11-30323 2

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