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Extracted Text (OCR)
67a
Circuit has provided guidance in its decision in
Weingarten. Although the court did not provide a
definitive answer there, it explained that the view
Maxwell now takes conflicts with established principles of
retroactivity and the decisions of at least two other
circuit courts. Weingarten, 865 F.3d at 58 & n.8; see
Cruz v. Maypa, 773 F.3d 138, 145 (4th Cir. 2014);
United States v. Leo Sure Chief, 488 F.3d 920, 924 (9th
Cir. 2006).
The Supreme Court has set out a_ two-step
framework to determine whether a federal statute
applies to past conduct. See Landgraf v. USI Film
Products, 511 U.S. 244, 280 (1994). Courts look first to
the language of the statute. If the statute states that
it applies to past conduct, courts must so apply it.
Weingarten, 865 F.3d at 54. Otherwise, the statute
applies to past conduct unless doing so would create
impermissible retroactive effects. Id.
The Court begins with Landgraf’s first step. To
assess a statute’s meaning here, courts must consider
the text of the statute along with other indicia of
congressional intent, including the statute’s history
and structure. See Enter. Mortg. Acceptance Co., LLC,
Sec. Litig. v. Enter. Mortg. Acceptance Co., 391 F.3d 401,
406 (2d Cir. 2004).
Section 3283, as amended by the PROTECT Act,
broadly states that “[nlo statute of limitations that
would otherwise preclude prosecution for an offense
involving the sexual or physical abuse, or kidnaping,
of a child under the age of 18 years shall preclude such
prosecution during the life of the child.” The statute
lacks an express retroactivity clause, but courts have
held that no such clause is necessary, including for this
particular statute. See Leo Sure Chief, 438 F.3d at 923.
The statute’s plain language unambiguously requires
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