PRECEDENTIAL UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE THIRD CIRCUIT No. 19-1687 LISA M. FOLAJTAR, Appellant v. ATTORNEY GENERAL OF THE UNITED STATES; ACTING DIRECTOR, BUREAU OF ALCOHOL, TOBACCO, FIREARMS, AND EXPLOSIVES; DIRECTOR OF THE FEDERAL BUREAU OF INVESTIGATION; UNITED STATES OF AMERICA Appeal from the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania (D.C. Civil Action No. 5-18-cv-02717) District Judge: Honorable Joseph F. Leeson, Jr. Argued November 12, 2019 Before: AMBRO, KRAUSE, and BIBAS, Circuit Judges (Opinion filed: November 24, 2020) Adam J. Kraut Joshua Prince (Argued) Prince Law Offices 646 Lenape Road Bechtelsville, PA 19505 Counsel for Appellant Joseph H. Hunt Assistant Attorney General William M. McSwain United States Attorney Mark B. Stern Patrick Nemeroff (Argued) Thais-Lyn Trayer United States Department of Justice Civil Division, Room 7217 950 Pennsylvania Avenue, N.W. Washington, DC 20530 Counsel for Appellees Joseph G.S. Greenlee Firearms Policy Coalition 1215 K Street, 17th Floor Sacramento, CA 95814 Counsel for Amicus Appellants Firearms Policy Coalition Inc.; Firearms Policy Foundation; Firearms Owners Against Crime; Second Amendment Foundation Inc. 2 OPINION OF THE COURT AMBRO, Circuit Judge Lisa Folajtar asks us to decide whether Congress may prohibit individuals convicted of federal tax fraud from possessing firearms. To answer this question, we rely on the general rule that laws restricting firearm possession by convicted felons are valid. Because we find no reason to deviate from this longstanding prohibition in the context of tax fraud, we reject Folajtar’s as-applied constitutional challenge. Folajtar pled guilty in 2011 to a federal felony: willfully making a materially false statement on her tax returns, which is punishable by up to three years’ imprisonment and a fine up to $100,000. 26 U.S.C. § 7206(1). 1 The Court was more 1 Section 7206 is titled “[f]raud and false statements,” and § 7206(1) is titled “[d]eclaration under penalties of perjury.” We colloquially refer to any offense under § 7206, including § 7206(1), as criminal tax fraud. See Ray A. Knight & Lee G. Knight, Criminal Tax Fraud: An Analytical Review, 57 Mo. L. Rev. 175, 179 (1992); see also Kawashima v. Holder, 565 U.S. 478, 483–84 (2012) (explaining that although § 7206(1) does not include fraud as a formal element, it qualifies under the Immigration and Nationality Act as a deportable offense involving fraud or deceit); United States v. Taylor, 574 F.2d 232, 234 (5th Cir. 1978) (“Section 7206(1) is a fraud statute.”). 3 lenient, sentencing her to three-years’ probation, including three months of home confinement, a $10,000 fine, and a $100 assessment. She also paid the IRS over $250,000 in back taxes, penalties, and interest. Folajtar’s conviction left her subject to 18 U.S.C. § 922(g)(1), which prohibits those convicted of a crime punishable by more than one year in prison 2 from possessing firearms. 3 Congress enacted the prohibition in the 1960s, thus expanding substantially a 1938 ban prohibiting 2 Because the charge associated with § 922(g)(1) is a “felon in possession of a firearm,” some refer to any crime subject to § ...
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