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transported them for that purpose. Instead, Maxwell
contends that charged offenses do not qualify as
offenses involving the sexual abuse of minors because
sexual abuse is not an essential ingredient of each
statutory offense. See Bridges v. United States, 346
US. 209, 221 (1953). In Maxwell’s view, for example, it
is possible to transport a minor with intent to engage
in criminal sexual activity and not follow through with
the planned sexual abuse, and so sexual abuse is not
an essential ingredient of the offense. Maxwell makes
the same argument for the enticement and related
conspiracy charges.
This approach is analogous to the “categorical
approach” employed by courts to evaluate prior con-
victions for immigration and sentencing purposes. See
Taylor v. United States, 495 U.S. 575, 602 (1990).
Generally speaking, the “categorical approach” requires
that courts “look only to the statutory definitions—i.e.,
the elements” of the relevant offense to determine if
the provision applies “and not to the particular facts
underlying those convictions.” Descamps v. United
States, 570 U.S. 254, 261 (2013) Gnternal quotation
marks omitted). Whether a statute requires a categori-
cal or case-specific approach is a question of statutory
interpretation. To determine whether Congress used
the word “offense” in a statute to refer to an offense in
the abstract or to the facts of each individual case, the
Court must examine the statute’s “text, context, and
history.” United States v. Davis, 1389 S. Ct. 2819, 2327
(2019).
Though it has not authoritatively settled the ques-
tion, the Second Circuit has strongly suggested that
Maxwell’s approach is the wrong one. In Weingarten v.
United States, 865 F.3d 48, 58-60 (2d Cir. 2017), the
Second Circuit discussed at length how the text,
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