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Champion v. Ames

Significance, An Element Confessedly Injurious To The Public Morals, Suppression Of Lotteries Is A Power Of The States



Appellant

Charles F. Champion

Appellee

John C. Ames

Appellant's Claim

That a federal statute prohibiting the carrying of lottery tickets across state lines was unconstitutional.

Chief Lawyer for Appellant

Moritz Rosenthal

Chief Lawyer for Appellee

Beck, Assistant Attorney General

Justices for the Court

Henry Billings Brown, John Marshall Harlan I (writing for the Court), Oliver Wendell Holmes, Joseph McKenna, Edward Douglass White

Justices Dissenting

David Josiah Brewer, Melville Weston Fuller, Rufus Wheeler Peckham, George Shiras, Jr.

Place

Washington, D.C.

Date of Decision

23 February 1903

Decision

Lottery tickets were traffic and carrying them from one state to another was interstate commerce. Under its power to regulate commerce among the states, Congress could prohibit the carrying of lottery tickets from state to state.

Related Cases

  • Addyston Pipe & Steel Co. v. United States, 175 U.S. 211 (1899).
  • Hanley v. Kansas City S. R. Co., 187 U.S. 617 (1903).

Additional topics

Law Library - American Law and Legal InformationNotable Trials and Court Cases - 1883 to 1917